SUPERMARKET FOOD WASTE

Supermarkets love “use-by” dates as it enables them to sell more.

Supermarkets are responsible for a shocking amount of food waste.  Some of the waste comes from spoilage or contamination in the warehouse but also, due to ever stricter hygiene and “‘elf ‘n safety laws”, items have to be sold by their “use-by” or “best-by” date – or they have to be junked. They try to reduce wastage by marking the price down on the last day at which it can legally be sold but the price mark-downs are often either too little and/or too late in the day.  IMO they should start marking the price down the DAY BEFORE and not leave it to the last day.  I have noticed that LIDL begins marking down prices on the day before but their “30% off” labels (never more than that) are on dark orange stickers and quite hard to see. Neither do they move the “last day of sale” items onto a dedicated shelf as Tesco or ASDA does.  OTOH those bargain shelves are usually very untidily dis-arranged and many people are embarrassed to be seen foraging in them for a bargain.    But at least a bargain-hunter knows where to look – and probably the posher shops (like Waitrose and M&S) don’t want to encourage scavengers like me..?

HOME FOOD WASTE

No matter how careful we are, and how frugal, its difficult not to waste food – partly because its so cheap and so plentiful these days (and yes, most of it is cheap..!) that we buy far too too much of it and load it all into the back or the bottom of our big fridges and freezers and forget it is there until we finally re-discover it when past its date.   The problem is exacerbated by the fact that, for most people, the big supermarkets – those with the best selection and best prices – are usually a considerable distance from our homes, so most people go by car – perhaps only once a week – and load up with loads of stuff.  We’ve all seen those huge over-flowing to the brim trolleys, but you won’t see me pushing one of them – as I like to live close to the shops.   But these days we don’t even need to go the shops – more and more people are using a home-delivery service.   That’s fine if you know exactly what you want, but I still like to stroll down the aisles and make serendipitous food and drink discoveries.   And LIDL & ALDI don’t deliver..!

OASIS CITIES

If we lived in compact OA-Cities we would never be more than a short stroll from the shops, so people will tend to food shop more often – but they will buy less each time and won’t feel the necessity to fill their trolley.  Smaller fridges hold less food – and that means LESS FOOD WASTE..!   But, even when you do decide to load up, you won’t have to trundle it through a vast wet and wind-swept car-park, and then have to unload everything into your car.

You will be able to wheel your trolley right to your door..!   

Closely-spaced apartments will make it simple and ECONOMICAL to organise DAILY DOOOR-TO-DOOR COLLECTIONS OF FOOD WASTE.