Tesco admits throwing away a fifth of it's vegetables and almost half its bakery items - 30,000 tonn
59 replies, posted
[B]Supermarket giant Tesco has revealed it generated almost 30,000 tonnes of food waste in the first six months of 2013.[/B]
Of that total, 21% was made up of fruit and vegetables and 41% of bakery items.
41% bakery
21% fruit and vegetables
8% convenience foods
8% dairy
6% "impulse", such as confectionery and soft drinks
5% meat, fish and poultry
2% "counters", such as cheese and deli meats
2% frozen foods
2% cereals
2% beers and spirits
2% pasta, rice and grains
1% world foods
[URL]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24603008[/URL]
radio 4 mentioned this this morning, tesco are gonna stop multibuys on large salad bags as it's one of the biggest wastes and only offer them on the smaller bags to encourage us to buy what we need.
half its bakery items, holy shit, that's a colossal waste of resources
Co-op have a similar problem, but they've started an initiative where the majority of waste including food is sent back and turned into either compost or used as biofuel.
[QUOTE=RetaDepa;42596623]Co-op have a similar problem, but they've started an initiative where the majority of waste including food is sent back and turned into either compost or used as biofuel.[/QUOTE]
And that's how you do it right; another solution is don't stock as much food if the predicted sales aren't high enough.
That's because the staff are usually too lazy/tight to reduce it all properly before throwing it away. Nobody's going to buy anything that's already stale for 20p cheaper than RRP. I've worked at a sister company of tesco and we just ignored the rules of reducing items '25% a day before sell by date' and '50% on it's sell by date' because it hardly ever sells. They should give it away or at least sell it at a price that is practically doing so because the amount of food that goes to waste is insane at these places.
I have like 15 lasagne ready meals in my freezer and about 30 rashers of bacon i bought for 20p each instead of throwing them away. Fuck you tesco.
[QUOTE=SuPeR_MaN;42596720]That's because the staff are usually too lazy/tight to reduce it all properly before throwing it away. Nobody's going to buy anything that's already stale for 20p cheaper than RRP. I've worked at a sister company of tesco and we just ignored the rules of reducing items '25% a day before sell by date' and '50% on it's sell by date' because it hardly ever sells. They should give it away or at least sell it at a price that is practically doing so because the amount of food that goes to waste is insane at these places.
I have like 15 lasagne ready meals in my freezer and about 30 rashers of bacon i bought for 20p each instead of throwing them away. Fuck you tesco.[/QUOTE]
Asda sometimes do that, they price yoghurt pots up at 5p each if its their sell by date
[QUOTE=SuPeR_MaN;42596720]That's because the staff are usually too lazy/tight to reduce it all properly before throwing it away. Nobody's going to buy anything that's already stale for 20p cheaper than RRP. I've worked at a sister company of tesco and we just ignored the rules of reducing items '25% a day before sell by date' and '50% on it's sell by date' because it hardly ever sells. They should give it away or at least sell it at a price that is practically doing so because the amount of food that goes to waste is insane at these places.
I have like 15 lasagne ready meals in my freezer and about 30 rashers of bacon i bought for 20p each instead of throwing them away. Fuck you tesco.[/QUOTE]
Maybe you should blame the policy of "throw it away rather than give it to people who need it because we want our profitz" rather than the "lazy staff"?
Maybe they're "lazy" because they're being paid fuck all. Look for the people who make the policies - they're the ones at fault.
I'm in no doubt that every supermarket does this.
The total waste for day when I was working at one full time was about £1200 on average. I'd say that about £1000 at least is actually very good food, but as the guidelines for things like baked goods only have a same day sell on them it would just get thrown away. You couldn't even give it to staff or reduce it for a few days before wasting it.
Yet things like freshly baked fruit pies could be on display for 2 days. Because being circular makes all the difference.
There are also a lot of myths surrounding freezing and bacteria. Providing you reheat a product thoroughly, there will be no harmful bacteria. However, constant defrosting and refreezing will diminish quality quickly. But providing you only take out what you're going to eat, you could leave something frozen indefinitely until you need it.
I work at a Target and when most of our bakery is about to go bad we just shove carts of it into the break room where it vanishes in minutes. I have seen cockloads of meat and veg being tossed out though, and have tossed out a lot myself.
This is why we at safeway rotate most of our stuff by their expiry date, so that older items are exposed to the customers before newer dates. This way people don't all ignore a one day difference until it never gets bought and thrown out. Also discount older items if they aren't getting bought.
[QUOTE=JgcxCub;42596753]Maybe you should blame the policy of "throw it away rather than give it to people who need it because we want our profitz" rather than the "lazy staff"?
Maybe they're "lazy" because they're being paid fuck all. Look for the people who make the policies - they're the ones at fault.[/QUOTE]
I don't just mean the sales assistants and the shelf stackers i mean lazy managers not time managing to minimise waste and lazy staff at head office who don't give a shit. I've been there on the night shifts and they just don't bother half the time. What's the point of reducing some bread when it's much easier to just throw it away?
Give it to poor people.
Hang on, it isn't 41% of all the bakery items, isn't it that the bakery items make up 41% of the total waste?
Doesn't make it any better though.
You would not believe how much supermarkets throw out, i used to work at the co-op and on my first day of baking i put all the cookie dough on one tray resulting in a 4ft by 3 ft giant biscuit.
Had to throw it away obviously i didn't realize the dough would expand...
That's nothing. I worked in the produce dept. At a walmart for a year. They easily threw 1/2 to 2/3 of their vegetables and fruit away. I actually confronted my boss about there being a better way to deal with the food but he said no. Such a waste. If they marked down half of their shit it wouldn't be getting thrown out.
[QUOTE=SuPeR_MaN;42596859]I don't just mean the sales assistants and the shelf stackers i mean lazy managers not time managing to minimise waste and lazy staff at head office who don't give a shit. I've been there on the night shifts and they just don't bother half the time. What's the point of reducing some bread when it's much easier to just throw it away?[/QUOTE]
sadly, i don't think that anyone at tesco that's in a position to make a difference actually gives a crap about the wasted food, they're far more concerned with the wasted profit. food wastage is a real problem that needs to be addressed, but ultimately companies will only fix it when it's more financially beneficial to them, at the minute it's 'less costly' (in financial and other terms) to have a slight surplus of stock and it be wasted than risk under ordering, running out and losing your customers to a competitor.
[editline]21st October 2013[/editline]
it's sad, but as much as they try to spin it as them being concerned about the wastage it all boils down to their profits, as with most businesses.
[QUOTE=ironman17;42596656]And that's how you do it right; another solution is don't stock as much food if the predicted sales aren't high enough.[/QUOTE]
As good as that would be it doesn't work that way. It's difficult to stock stores on a location by location basis and a lot of sales are actually targets that are encouraged to be promoted and reached in order to drive sales and make a specific profit. It could end up being that one way or another you're getting an uncontrolled allocation.
[editline]21st October 2013[/editline]
[QUOTE=Karmah;42596801]This is why we at safeway rotate most of our stuff by their expiry date, so that older items are exposed to the customers before newer dates. This way people don't all ignore a one day difference until it never gets bought and thrown out. Also discount older items if they aren't getting bought.[/QUOTE]
It's not just Safeway. Every shop should do this and if it doesn't happen either your employees are lazy or there's something fundamentally wrong with your business model.
[editline]21st October 2013[/editline]
In fact this whole news article isn't really news. This is pretty much to be expected from such a massive retail chain like Tesco.
surely we can work out some sort of system to ensure the majority of wasted food goes to the homeless
shame we can't just teleport it over to africa or something, oh well
[QUOTE=Chernobyl426;42596866]Give it to poor people.[/QUOTE]
Bad for business for the most part. Reputation matters but not that much.
[QUOTE=JgcxCub;42596753]Maybe you should blame the policy of "throw it away rather than give it to people who need it because we want our profitz" rather than the "lazy staff"?
Maybe they're "lazy" because they're being paid fuck all. Look for the people who make the policies - they're the ones at fault.[/QUOTE]
Blame governmental taxes for that really. If I remember right, most companies wouldn't mind giving away food at it's best before date as long as they could use it for a tax writeoff (which should be possible), but instead they often actually have to pay sales tax.
That's not the case if they just throw it out in which case they don't pay sales tax and they can use it for a writeoff.
[QUOTE=SuPeR_MaN;42596859]I don't just mean the sales assistants and the shelf stackers i mean lazy managers not time managing to minimise waste and lazy staff at head office who don't give a shit. I've been there on the night shifts and they just don't bother half the time. What's the point of reducing some bread when it's much easier to just throw it away?[/QUOTE]
Ahright, I misunderstood you. I agree with you here.
[QUOTE=wraithcat;42597112]Blame governmental taxes for that really. If I remember right, most companies wouldn't mind giving away food at it's best before date as long as they could use it for a tax writeoff (which should be possible), but instead they often actually have to pay sales tax.
That's not the case if they just throw it out in which case they don't pay sales tax and they can use it for a writeoff.[/QUOTE]
I think it is just simply illegal to give food that is expired away, atleast it is in Finland and every EU country.
[QUOTE=Lambda 217;42597092]surely we can work out some sort of system to ensure the majority of wasted food goes to the homeless
shame we can't just teleport it over to africa or something, oh well[/QUOTE]
currently it costs too much money to implement and (unfortunately) isn't just as simple as taking your old stock and distributing it among the homeless. some small private businesses have been able to do this successfully (though i can't find any sources just now) and hopefully in a few years there'll be some sort of system in place, but for now it's too costly for any major supermarket to consider it.
[editline]21st October 2013[/editline]
[QUOTE=Rangergxi;42597108]Bad for business for the most part. Reputation matters but not that much.[/QUOTE]
how is giving away food that would otherwise be put into a bin reputation harming?
[QUOTE=Autumn;42596980]
it's sad, but as much as they try to spin it as them being concerned about the wastage it all boils down to their profits, as with [B]all[/B] businesses.[/QUOTE]
Fixed that for you.
[QUOTE=JgcxCub;42597159]Fixed that for you.[/QUOTE]
some ethical businesses do exist, you know.
[editline]21st October 2013[/editline]
they are few and far between but they do exist, which is exactly why i used the word most instead of all.
[QUOTE=Chernobyl426;42596866]Give it to poor people.[/QUOTE]
it would be kind of dangerous legally to just give it away, since if it doesn't meet the supermarket's standards to begin with it could be inedible or otherwise very bad for you. not that that's likely to be the reason Tesco are throwing this stuff away of course
[QUOTE=Autumn;42597143]
how is giving away food that would otherwise be put into a bin reputation harming?[/QUOTE]
Bad because those poor people wouldn't go to the markets to buy food.
[QUOTE=Rangergxi;42597351]Bad because those poor people wouldn't go to the markets to buy food.[/QUOTE]
b-but... if it was going to be people that couldn't afford to shop at those places anyway why would it matter?
So, if they mark it all down to dirt cheap, won't folks just wait for the price to drop?
How would they make enough to operate that way?
I love fresh donuts, but I am not above getting the "day-old" bakery items to save a buck.
(Coincidentally, don't think dragging a bag of old donuts out of the dumpster is a good idea. They will make you sick. Especially if you haven't been eating right to begin with)
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