Comments on: Blame Game

by: John Costigane

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 21:05:25 +0000

“The Blame Game” is a feature of British attitudes.
Politicians blame superstores, superstores blame consumers, councils, councils blame consumers, government. It is the standard way to shift responsibility.
My attitude, along with fellow Zero Waste enthusiasts, is to take up the challenge and do our own Zero Waste thing and encourage others to join in.
My 156 week binbag is a blow for sustainability and against landfill. Worldwide the message is gaining strength with millions of links in a Google search. The trend is only one way and the sadly deluded landfill advocates are swimming against the tide.

John.

by: Fr. Peter Doodes

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 08:56:15 +0000

Sorry Rob, but in my book throwing away food is wrong. Food you waste for your ‘impressive spread at the dinner party’ pushes up the price of food for those least able to afford it.

Many don’t have the luxury of not having to worry about ’spending an hour working out exactly how much food they need’, They can’t overbuy and dump the remains in landfill.

Your are indeed in a happy position if you have excess money you can trade in for your life style.

by: Rob Fisher

Sat, 12 Jul 2008 13:59:04 +0000

Bogof offers might be there to get you in the store, get you to try a new product, or just to get rid of excess stock. In that last case they probably result in less food being thrown away. Whatever, supermarkets know best how to run their businesses efficiently. And how much food is thrown away is only a small part of the picture. Coping with peaks of demand, and being able to get rid of stock when an expected peak failed to appear is another part. Meddling in the tools supermarkets use to tweak demand is a recipe for empty shelves.

As for “us” being the main culprit? Culprit of what. There’s nothing inherently wrong with throwing away food.

When individuals throw food away it is *not* waste. It was bought for a reason: to make sure you had enough; because you didn’t know in advance how hungry you were going to be, or whatever. When you throw food away, that’s money you could have saved. But you didn’t save it. It cost you money. But you *have* bought something with that money.

You bought not having to spend an hour working out exactly how much food you needed. You bought not having to eat food you didn’t feel like eating. You bought having an impressive spread at the dinner party even though everyone was too full to finish it. You traded money for a slightly more pleasant life.

Having politicians control the myriad tiny day to day decisions and trade-offs we make is a recipe for a tedious, miserable life. We should not allow them even to voice an opinion on such matters, lest they get ideas about control.

by: Jonathan

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 13:31:29 +0000

That’s some nice research, Father Peter. There is certainly plenty of crossover between food waste and poor eating habits and you’ve identified another one.

You’re right that “BOGOF” promotions with non-perishable or freezable items, although probably less healthy, leads to less waste. Still, these items are often lost in our pantries or freezers. And then the savings evaporate.

On a separate note, when we freeze certain items, we sacrifice quality and taste for savings. Whether that’s worth it is an individual decision.

by: Father Peter

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 12:15:11 +0000

Interesting Jonathan, but it was when I read the attached article in the Independent that one sentance jumpted out

“Perhaps it has also escaped the Prime Minister – despite his celebrated attention to detail-that the vast majority of “Bogof” deals in supermarkets are for goods which can be frozen”.

This is news to me and as supermarkets advertise in that paper (I am a suspicious individual) I called in when passing my local Tesco’s to check this info out. The ‘Bogof’ deals were as follows:

5 varieties of chocolates
10 varieties of crisps
7 varieties of cook in sauces
Pepsi Max
Lucozade (an energy drink)
1 fruit drink concentrate
1 type of biscuit (cookies)
1 brand of 4 tin pack tomatoes
1 type of tea bag
1 type of drinking yoghurt

No frozen food at all, in fact I could find no essential food items on ‘Bogof’ deals. This was a snapshot rather than research over a period and I have seen these offers on vegetables in the past but the present deals seem, in the main, to be a health hazzard problem rather than a food waste problem.

Perhaps the author of the article was unwilling to bite the hand that feeds?

Blessings,

Peter.

by: Shorty

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 18:37:34 +0000

I think when it comes to promotions - something i do is figure out if it can be frozen - like extra bread or bags of milk. or even some veggies - i’ll steam or cook them, then freeze them for later use. No waste.

Yes i know things can get lost i the freezer. that is why once i month, i go through it. pull stuff out to the front that is getting “burried” under some bigger items (like the bags of milk).

by: Katherine

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 15:45:56 +0000

My mother always taught me that if I don’t need it and/or can’t afford it, it is not a good deal. No store forces you to take the second, “free”, head of lettuce. While I may pay a higher unit price for smaller packages, I still spend less and waste less overall.