Waitrose will look to give charities its unsold food
Friday 30th December 2011, 2:29PM GMT.
WAITROSE says it plans to donate unsold food to charity.
Questions about the supermarket’s policy on stock disposal were raised after reports that large amounts of food were thrown away on Christmas Eve.
The supermarket yesterday announced that it hoped to introduce a policy of giving it to help local causes.
‘As the stores are still relatively new in the Channel Islands we have not yet made arrangements to make charitable donations,’ it said. ‘As part of our waste strategy, our aim is to divert all produce that is unsuitable for sale from landfill by the end of 2012. ‘
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Brilliant.
A year late but brilliant, food should not go into land fill.
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Yes- I agree that this is good news even if it has taken a while coming. However there will still be huge amounts of food going into Mont Cuet from all over the island, where it causes bad smells, vermin problems and large amounts of methane to be emitted.
Guernsey really has got to get a move on with getting our own In Vessel Compostor (IVC) up and running so that we can turn all this material into a usable compost and prevent the considerable negative effects of landfilling it. I think it was about 15 years ago that we were first advised to get an IVC and still we haven’t done it! It is now part of the new waste strategy proposal going to the States in Feb. Let’s all tell our Deputies that we want them to give PSD the go ahead so that they can get on with this.
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Or we could all just aim for buying less and eating what we have rather than wasting it. Supermarkets need to focus on demand and supply accordingly.
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We could certainly learn to buy less….. just what we know we need and will eat. A staggering 6 million tonnes of food was thrown away by households in 2011 in the UK, primarily because of ‘Use By’ dates, and because people cook too much. (I find that last point extraordinary….. why do people throw it away if they cook too much?? What’s wrong with using it tomorrow?)
Anyway- clearly there is an awfully long way to go before food waste is not one of the largest components of the waste stream. If we, in Guernsey collect food waste from households, restaurants, hotels and supermarkets it could be taken straight to an IVC plant and turned into compost.
Also, by removing this yucky, mucky material out of the waste stream, there would be less contamination of the remaining material which would then be fit for recycling.
This is all in PSD’s new waste strategy proposal if the States give them the go-ahead. They need to now get on with it….. and quickly!
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I’m a sucker for two for one deals and I tend to stock up big time when the fridge or freezer shelves start showing
I do this in the main to reduce my car journeys but then I find I occasionally have to dump the odd banana.It’s a dilemma alright
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Ray
Good news – you can freeze bananas!
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Ray:
Do you like banana cake or fruit smoothies? Do you like cooking or is there a Mrs Ray who likes cooking? Smoothies in particular are a synch to do and are great for over-ripe bananas. And bananas put into the freezer are ok for making cakes with.
If all else fails, chop them up and put into your compost. If you live in a flat with no garden- then I agree you have a dilemma….. that is at least until we get that IVC!
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‘our aim is to divert all produce that is unsuitable for sale from landfill by the end of 2012′ – by the end of 2012? Clearly high on their list of priorities. Setting aside a whole year to arrange this seems rather farcicle.
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Good on Waitrose, shame on the States of Guernsey, Soup Kitchens for 2012.
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What food is unsuitable for giving/selling on? Can understand xmas eve due to maybe tip closing early/not open over holidays!
Other than poultry & sausages (maybe a health risk if not cooked 2 days within use by date), what about other items?
Pretty sick to see all the air/sea miles to import then dump (not just Waitrose)
Nice to see at least one supermarket addressing the problem
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A good step by Waitrose, though I wouldn’t want to work out quite how the logistics of collecting and distributing the food would be acomplished!
In terms of home waste, if those lucky enough to have a garden composted vegetable waste it would be a step in the right direction.
It would also help if the supermarkets provided compostable packaging for fresh fruit & veg – i.e. paper bags! They’re also better for keeping your fruit & veg fresh as it doesn’t cause it all to sweat like plastic bags can.
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The way to get supermarkets to move their packaging away from (non-recyclable) plastic and more towards compostable or recyclable materials (including plastic) is if we badger them to do it. It takes a wee bit more effort but if we all took the time to tell the manager that we are not buying certain items because the packaging does not fit into Guernsey’s recycling streams, the message would get thru’ pretty quickly. They are there after all, to please their customers.
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