Find out about the food waste policies of the major supermarket chains: what do they do when something reaches the end of the line or reaches the sell-by date? How do their policies respond to these situations? Do they recycle the food between charities, shelters?
At this stage I went into the supermarket to observe, take pictures and buy products, but I also tried to find out as much as possible from the staff through face-to-face conversations and emails about their rules for handling wasted food.
I’ve heard the sales adage ‘pile it high, sell it cheap’. This saying was coined in the 1950s by Sir Jack Cohen, founder of Tesco.
It sums up the modus operandi of all the supermarkets that spawned in the following decades. You’ve seen that philosophy in action if you’ve ever tried to dig through a mountain of apples at the supermarket.
Supermarkets believe that customers prefer to see full shelves and big piles of produce. They routinely order more than they can sell — all to complete an image of first-world bounty.
Naturally, a large proportion of this food becomes overripe. Some supermarkets, independent shops or small chains move the ripe fruits to a bargain bin. Shoppers who aren’t afraid of a few spots can pick up great deals.
The majority of the big chains can’t be bothered to spare the labor required to repackage squishy fruit. The overripe supermarket produces, once a member of the elite upper echelon, then joins its rejected brethren in landfill.
1.Clearance of expired food
Yellow Labels
Information from policy:
All UK supermarket chains must put compulsory “use by” labels on foods such as meat, fish, eggs and dairy products that carry a safety risk if eaten after that date.
The “best before” dates put on fruit and vegetables are largely a quality indication to show that although they may no longer be at their best, they are still safe to eat.
Information from Staff and other consumers:
There are two types of discounts, regular discounts and prolonged discounts.
There will be one or two discounted meats in the cold meat aisle, for example a 3.5lb chicken breast may be discounted to 2.5lb, which is still a significant percentage off. Such discounts will also be on seasonal fruit such as pineapples and mangoes. Seasonal fruit is slightly more heavily discounted, usually up to 50% off. However, seasonal fruit is generally not produced in the UK and the imported ones have a mediocre taste and are not as good as those from Southeast Asia or Hainan.
And then there's the second type, the expired discount. As the name implies, the shelf-life is almost up and sold at a discount, usually for sandwiches, fruit, fresh meat and vegetables that expire on the same day. Generally speaking, the sale is around 30% off, similar to a regular sale, and goes on the shelves as soon as the shop opens. For example, at 9am on October 1st, they sell food that expires on October 1st. But in the evening, around 7pm, these will be on sale again and the price will be less than half price. Usually I buy celery, beans and other vegetables that don't spoil easily compared to the leaves, as well as some fruits and vegetables that look okay to eat in the evening or on the second.
Of course, this situation is also rare, when I happen to look okay to buy the same, will not purposely to squat or regularly go shopping.
Tesco have also laid out plans to ditch best before dates to help reduce food waste. Best before dates mean the date before which the food is at its best.
Used on fresh fruit and veg, they’re completely unnecessary and we should be allowed to use our own judgement on when a food is no longer safe to eat.
Ditching best before dates means that supermarkets no longer have to ditch perfectly edible food. (Best before dates are not to be confused with use by dates, used on mainly meat and dairy products.)
2. Ugly Food
In 2016, Asda was the first UK supermarket to begin selling wonky veg. Their boxes of unloved, seasonal vegetables sell for £3.50 and can feed a family of four for a week.
Since then, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, the Co-op and Aldi have all followed suit. Wonky veg boxes are an affordable way to help prevent one of the main reasons for food waste – unnecessary beauty standards.
Offering ‘ugly’ produce lines that focus on charmingly wonky fruit and veg is set to become the norm. It’s absurd that it isn’t already.
What’s wrong with eating carrots with two legs and voluptuously deformed auberges — the cute giant pandas of the food waste cause? It might even get fussy kids eating more veg!
3. Redistribution of edible food
Companies are also springing up that handle the redistribution of unwanted, edible food. Charities, schools, homeless hostels and other needy organisations benefit from free, fresh food.
Volunteers rescue food from supermarkets and food outlets and redistribute it. Staff and volunteers at the receiving end then use it to make healthy, hot meals for those in need. Fruit that really is too ripe to eat can also be rescued. Brands such as Snact turn overripe fruit into fruit jerky. Cotchel juices are made from rescued fruit. Reliquum turn surplus apples, plums and apricots into amazing gins.
4.charities
There are also charities such as FareShare which help give people access to food that supermarkets have but can't sell anymore,
Supermarkets like ASDA and Waitrose team up with FareShare so any extra food they have can can be given away to those who need it, which means people won't go hungry and food isn't wasted.
5. Cooperation & community services
In September Tesco became the first major supermarket to team up with Olio, a food sharing app, to help stop extra food going to waste in the UK. The Olio app helps people give away food and household items to neighbours for free.
Olio volunteers will visit Tesco to collect surplus food which is near it's sell-by date and then post the items on the app for people and community groups to collect.
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