Gordon James, director of Friends of the Earth Cymru (Wales), or Cyfeillion y Ddaear Cymru for the Welsh-speaking crowd, thinks there’d be less food waste if you couldn’t park your car close to the supermarket. The thinking: Since there’s no deterrent to buying an excessive amount of food (often prompted by promotions), we do.
While his theory indirectly indicts supermarkets in general, with their large shopping carts and helpful baggers, James has a point. When I walk or bike to the store, my grocery load gets streamlined. But I don’t see less people owning cars or supermarkets discouraging large purchases.
That’s why James pushes development that isn’t totally car-dependent. Stateside, there are a growing number of these “mixed use” “lifestyle centers.” It’d be interesting (and difficult) to track food waste as it corresponds to mode of transport.
Anyway, the short article had this gem from James:Â
My wife occasionally goes to the supermarket and comes back and says, ‘Look, these were two for one’. I say, ‘That’s good, we didn’t want one’.
Pardon my Welsh, but IÂ think James and me are going to be fast cyfeillions.
Comments
4 responses to “Cars, Supermarkets and Waste”
People would probably buy a lot less food if they used the basket instead of a shopping cart. It always makes me think twice about buying something if I have to carry it around. It probably helps that I have weak little arms, too.
When I went car free, it was my food buying patterns that changed the most. During the summer, my boyfriend and I buy more food than usual (in the form of bulk rice, beans, flour, etc.) Then during the winter (which is non-stop rain here in Oregon) we rely on our organic delivery service to bring vegetables once a week and we rarely go out to the grocery store. I’m more inclined to bake my own bread and sweets than I am to go and buy them, and the past year has turned me into quite a baker! And, like you, I make my own stock from kitchen scraps rather than buying any. What might have once seemed like a hassle is often much more convenient than making a trip to the grocery store.
We switched from using the store’s provided plastic and paper bags to using our own booksacks and canvas bags not necessarily because it was more enviornmentally friendly– those paper and pastic bags are not intended to carry heavy loads during a mile long walk! A backpack with padded straps is much more comfortable. 🙂
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