Co-Op drive to reduce food waste

epicuric

epicuric

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In a local Co-Op supermarket this morning I picked up a leaflet about the staggering amount of food wasted - 7.3 million tons per annum in the UK alone. Co-Op have come up with a great idea for cutting down what they themselves waste - by selling it off for 10p! All items (mainly tinned or dried goods) that are less than a month past their "best before" date will be sold of for 10p. Well done to Co-Op, a great idea, if it works.
 
epicuric said:
In a local Co-Op supermarket this morning I picked up a leaflet about the staggering amount of food wasted - 7.3 million tons per annum in the UK alone. Co-Op have come up with a great idea for cutting down what they themselves waste - by selling it off for 10p! All items (mainly tinned or dried goods) that are less than a month past their "best before" date will be sold of for 10p. Well done to Co-Op, a great idea, if it works.
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Excellent - lets hope other supermarkets follow suit.
 
I remember reading something about this the other day. I shop at the Co-op quite a lot, it being the only "big" store in the immediate vicinity. I think there is a fair chance that the practice will spread. The Co-op was reasonably quick in stocking Fairtrade stuff and eventually a few others followed.

I do wish, though, that the Co-op would stop trying to foist carrier bags on everyone that shops there - they certainly do in my local shop. Even when it's really obvious that you are about to put things in the bag you've brought with you, the staff almost always ask you if you want a bag. Time, in my view, to rid the world of plastic bags, but that's probably wildly optimistic.
 
We have an area in Dade County, FL called the Redland. There are many growers in the area. There are several distribution centers as well. When the orders at a distribution center are filled, the leftovers are given away free. The only caveat is you have to pick it up. If nobody takes them up on the offer, it goes on the compost heap. What really pi$$es me off is that there are many "soup" kitchens and homeless shelters that are begging for donations, but not one of them will drive down there and pick these free fruits and vegetables up.:devil: Instead they just beg for money. I have no sympathy for them. Makes you wonder why!
 
I'm afraid the whole wasted food thing is a monster of our own making. Supermarkets do not bin food because they want to - it means lost profits - they do it because far too many people would be only too happy to claim 'compensation' for anything that could be blamed on 'out of date' food. The blame lies fairly and squarely on our compensation culture and total lack of common sense.
CraigC said:
Makes you wonder why!
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It is a modern disease people want things but they also want everything doing for them - eg we had a friend who had a new flat, was desperate for cash and needed a bed - we offered a futon we had spare if she could collect it [and she had several relatives with estate cars] but in the end - yep we've still got it
 
sidevalve said:
I'm afraid the whole wasted food thing is a monster of our own making. Supermarkets do not bin food because they want to - it means lost profits - they do it because far too many people would be only too happy to claim 'compensation' for anything that could be blamed on 'out of date' food. The blame lies fairly and squarely on our compensation culture and total lack of common sense.

It is a modern disease people want things but they also want everything doing for them - eg we had a friend who had a new flat, was desperate for cash and needed a bed - we offered a futon we had spare if she could collect it [and she had several relatives with estate cars] but in the end - yep we've still got it
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Someone on one of our local forums advertised that they wanted a typewriter. I had one gathering dust so messaged him how much I wanted for it. He then asked me to take it round to his house as he didn't want to come all the way over to my house (all of half a mile) if it wasn't what he wanted!. You can imagine my reply, so the typewriter is gathering more dust on the unit next to my freezer.
 
A small local independent supermarket used to sell just out of date canned and packet goods for silly cheap prices until quite recently when they had a visit from our local Trading Standards who told them to stop it immediately. Makes you wonder.
 
Elawin said:
A small local independent supermarket used to sell just out of date canned and packet goods for silly cheap prices until quite recently when they had a visit from our local Trading Standards who told them to stop it immediately. Makes you wonder.
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There's a small shop near me where some of the food on sale was over two years past its Sell By Date. Some of the cans are bulging.

If the larger stores do start selling their stock of cheaply, lets hope it doesn't end up in such shops, being sold at the normal price.
 
Elawin said:
Someone on one of our local forums advertised that they wanted a typewriter. I had one gathering dust so messaged him how much I wanted for it. He then asked me to take it round to his house as he didn't want to come all the way over to my house (all of half a mile) if it wasn't what he wanted!. You can imagine my reply, so the typewriter is gathering more dust on the unit next to my freezer.
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I've found when giving stuff away that it you're giving it for peanuts or for free then you always get loads of timewasters - that's why I don't use freecycle any more. I guess as they're getting it for free then they don't attach much value to it so can't be bothered to make the effort.

I now use ebay for absolutely anything I want money for - when someone has beaten other people to it they tend to be much keener to turn up and collect their bargain :okay: If I'm giving something away for free then I just use a small hyper-local facebook group - though even there there's always a few timewasters :mad:
 
They featured this issue on Jamie and Jimmy's Friday Night Feast a couple of weeks ago: https://www.jamieoliver.com/news-and-features/features/social-supermarkets/

I think its a good idea for shops to have a section of food past it's best before date - so long as its clearly labelled and the consumer knows what they're buying. My only concern is that the supermarkets might be just moving the problem further down the line.....some people will buy the discounted food just because its a bargain with no actual plans to use it, so it'll either end up in someone's kitchen cupboard or their own bin.
 
At one of our local recycling banks, somebody had dumped a box containing no less than fifteen large bags of Golden Wonder crisps. They were about two weeks past the best-by date. We shovelled them into the bag we'd been using to cart some cardboard boxes up there and took them home. We don't often eat crisps, but it gave us some beer snacks for several weeks.

What a waste, what a waste, rock 'n' roll don't mind as the great Ian Dury informed us.
 
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classic33 said:
There's a small shop near me where some of the food on sale was over two years past its Sell By Date. Some of the cans are bulging.

If the larger stores do start selling their stock of cheaply, lets hope it doesn't end up in such shops, being sold at the normal price.
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One of our local grocers was closed down by Environmental Health a few years back, for that very reason. They were even buying fresh food from Tescos and rewrapping it.
 
Duck59 said:
At one of our local recycling banks, somebody had dumped a box containing no less than fifteen large bags of Golden Wonder crisps. They were about two weeks past the best-by date. We shovelled them into the bag we'd been using to cart some cardboard boxes up there and took them home. We don't often eat crisps, but it gave us some beer snacks for several weeks.

What a waste, what a waste, rock 'n' roll don't mind as the great Ian Dury informed us.
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One of the stalls in our local market used to sell sweets and snacks past their best before dates. There was never anything wrong with them. Unfortunately their business flagged big time when yet another pound shop opened. I haven't seen them for quite a while.
 
In the U.S. selling food beyond the "best by date" is risky business. We live in a "sue happy" nation. A sad and disturbing thing. On the bright side - when I had a larger garden and kept active compost bins my local produce markets were a great source for free "greens" to add to my compost bins. Made me :happy:. The local food bank will not take anything out of date. Fear of being sued. The free Diner will take almost anything. When I clean out the freezer they get lots. The big super markets usually have discounted items - fresh, frozen and canned that are approaching, not beyond, the "best by" date.
 
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