What A Fucking Waste..!

[megadave]

So a few weeks ago i was walking with my mate to his house from the pub when he took me behind a petrol garage that sells marks and spencers food to "steal" from their bins. At first i was sceptical but after seeing all the lovely taste the difference food we got for free i was loving it.

Anyway i've done this a fair number of times now and i have to say i'm appalled at the amount of food these places throw away. At this one small petrol station they throw away a bin this size

FULL of good food every day, when i went there last night there were 4 of these bins, 1 with rubbish and 3 just full of food that they throw away merely because its past its sell by date.

Why can't these companies just give this food to the needy? Or organise their stock better so they don't have so much excess? I hate to think the amount real supermarkets throw away each day, and when you think about the number of places that must discard this stuff every day you're thinking of tonnes of food going to waste while millions stave every day

 

[russell]

Totally agree.
Saw a program on people who eat from bins, well stuff that is thrown away, and it totally changed my perspective on it. You are right.

 

[tris-]

Why can't these companies just give this food to the needy?

it could contribute to an offence under the food labelling regulations.

i tried to research more but i cant be arsed, its quite likely though imo.

actually it didnt take too long.

it would be an offence under the regulations, as the word sell in there would be defined in the extended meaning of sale in the food safety act.

so for a business to give away food past its use by date is an offence. giving away is the same as the common meaning of selling in this case.

 

[megadave]

yeah well then change the law because its bollocks.

they could atleast just put some food outside for tramps and such to take it rather than put it in places you cant get to without conscious effort

 

[tris-]

then there is probably an environmental health issue with the latter scenario.

the law isnt bollocks. what if the food has developed and become biologically active? what if 100s of tramps get ill and spread the food poisoning? what if there was an epidemic?

or what if you buy an out of date sandwhich and you get e coli and die? is it still bollocks?

with your own food at home you can use personal discretion of course. the cheese is a day past but it looks and smells ok so i eat it.

how would you regulate 1000s of businesses and their discretion without a law telling them what the view is?

personally i dont trust random kid on minimum wage deciding if my food is safe.

 

[- English -]

used to chuck 40-80 foot long bread away everyday when i worked at subway because it "was past 11 oclock". There was nothing wrong with it, company policy though.

 

[- English -]

And yes, tramps did go in the bins to take it, and no we weren't allowed to give it them before we bagged and binned it. Is this right? i say no, but isn't for me to decide, its not even for the council, but the owner. And we all know this sort of industry is corrupt. Franchisees are money driven, every member of staff is seen as a pair of hands. Its why i will never go back into the food industry.

 

[megadave]

did u take food home?

 

[- English -]

depends what you mean. Spare bread / out of date produce no. Like i said this sort of place is corrupt. They wouldn't allow this in case people took advantage and said it was out of date and took it when it wasn't. So their policy was zilch to all. Ofc we got free food for dinner and stuff.

 

[tris-]

its probably illegal under the food safety act to give it to employees too.

 

[eksdee]

at the end of the day the law is there to protect people's health and it does make sense in a way. i also totally see and agree with the waste issue, i would take the food just like you are, but the thing is you are doing it willingly and at your own risk which is fine and why it wouldn't be possible for places to give it away. if you take it (essentially stealing it) then you are taking responsibility for any possible ramifications by the very essence of what you're doing, if the place actively gave it away then they would be totally liable if you/someone else got ill.

 

[georgie]

I worked at Tesco when I were a young 'un and they had just had an oven installed in our store for fresh bread and whatnot. Obviously the ovens needed testing and the bakers needed practice so shitloads of bread was made.

I went home with 24 loaves of bread one day.

I had some pretty fucking fat birds in the garden for a while.

 

[Raven]

Its disgusting, the supermarkets should be buying more sensibly rather than charging on carrier bags to "save teh worldz!!11!" They should be fined depending on how much they chuck away.

 

[soze]

My Aunt is a Manager at Tesco and has been told she needs to supervise it going in the bin she can not even give it to staff. It is all to do with some law and insurance if they sell or give you food past the sell by date and you get sick you can sue. So it all has to go in the bin and what you do with it then they do not care.

 

[old.Tohtori]

It's simple, laws are there to protect the companies and people frmo bad food. It works on all food equal. "past dates" aint' clear, they have a safety buffer.

They can't give the food to "the needy" as it would cost too much to transport etc them.

Not to mention, homeless guy eats a "past date" stuff, gets sick and company gets sued. Woho!

Not gonna happen.

You think it's the companies fault? I think it's the fault of morons suing everything for everything.

If YOU think it's wrong, set up a company that gathers "past dates" stuff from local places and gives them to the needy.

Otherwise, live with it.

Not to mention, there's plenty of food to waste.

 

[pikeh]

I used to work in Sainsbury's local, and was literally shocked to see what goes to waste. If a packet of sweets had been slit open with a box cutter, that was chucked. If the tag from a loaf of bread has slipped off, that was chucked. It made me really angry sometimes, there was nothing I could do about it. The rules are there, and the items had to be put on disposals. What happened to them after they were put on disposals though, that was a different matter. Lets just say that there wasn't much that went to waste, only the gone off/ out of date items.

 

[Heta]

soo... you are out digging in garbage after food?

 

[old.Tohtori]

soo... you are out digging in garbage after food?

What's wrong with that?

If it's clean, it's clean. If it's in a package, it's clean.

If it's clean, it's nomnomnom!

 

[Heta]

if its in the garbage, its garbage, I don't eat that

I'm a simple person

 

[tris-]

Mif they sell or give you food past the sell by date and you get sick you can sue..

its not just that though. as a business; giving away or selling food past the use by date is a criminal offence. getting ill off it isnt a requirement.

 

[Sparx]

Perhaps i am being a snob here but eating from bins is fucking rank

 

[Binky the Bomb]

Much of the fresh food in smaller outlets (petrol stations, corner shops etc) are labelled with a minimal shelf life, to make sure the retailers sell it (all junked foods are taken out of the resellers budget you see). Thing is they have to chuck it when the sell by date comes round, as the health board would skin them alive if it stays.

I'm not surprised your finding piles of still good food being thrown out, its bloody disgraceful at the amount of stuff they throw.

 

[Aoami]

Perhaps i am being a snob here but eating from bins is fucking rank

qft

 

[Dark Orb Choir]

If it's clean, it's nomnomnom!

fucking lol

"you must spread some reputation around before giving it to old.tohtori again"

 

[Haggus]

Put the rubbish in the bins and put the bins near or in places where tramps know of and can go and eat. when is say tramps i mean people starving etc.

Your not "letting" them eat it, nor are you "giving" it to them

 

[tris-]

but again there is probably some environmental problem with that.

it wouldnt suprise me if 'tramps' actually know where these bins are. dave does and he isnt homeless so it makes sense that homeless people probably do.

 

[Killder]

Bin scratter !

 

[Haggus]

Does that make him a tramp then?

 

[Binky the Bomb]

Does that make him a tramp then?

I think they call the Freetards.

 

[Overdriven]

I don't know whether it's me, or whether it's how I've been rasied.. But I'm pretty sure eating from bins isn't a great idea o_o