Food Waste Supermarket Offers Discarded Surplus Food To Hungry Families At ‘Pay As You Feel’ Prices – Dignified Alternative To Dumpster Diving Opens Up In The U.K.
To address the problem of supermarkets dumping unsold surplus food into the dumpsters, a humanitarian alternative recently opened its doors. The food waste supermarket allows its patrons to choose from a variety of food items that are still fit for consumption, but thrown out by stores, at a price they feel comfortable with.
A supermarket with an altruistic agenda that strives to ensure the blatant wastage of food by the supermarkets is curtailed, has opened up in the United Kingdom. The food waste supermarket in Pudsey, near Leeds, is the brainchild of Real Junk Food Project. The store is in a large storage space and aptly named “The Warehouse.” While anyone is welcome to browse and buy, the store’s most frequent buyers are low-income families and struggling individuals who are constantly facing starvation.
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All of the food neatly stacked on shelves has been discarded by supermarkets and other businesses. However, the campaigners do not allow the food to be thrown out. Instead, volunteers have managed to get the supermarkets on board and ensured that all of the surplus or unsold stock is handed over to delivery vans the non-profit organization operates. Besides supermarkets, even fast food and coffee chains have been known to throw away their stock that can still be consumed but cannot be kept on the shelves.
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Once the food reaches the warehouse, it is arranged on shelves. While the organization hasn’t shared details about the logistics or management of the food, it is quite likely the items are arranged to ensure their consumption takes place before they go bad.
While food wastage has always been a chronic problem, so is the rising number of people who go hungry every day. Supermarkets often discard unsold food items that are still fit to consume. Moreover, a majority of the items are discarded merely because they have suffered cosmetic damage. The majority of buyers avoid food that doesn’t look good even though there’s nothing wrong with the food.
First 'food waste' supermarket opens in Leeds https://t.co/Gc4kJKXXR4 Good news for sustainability @DrCPettingerRD @ElizAtherton
— Angela Madden ?? ? (@AngelaMMadden) September 21, 2016
After the supermarkets have discarded their unsold stock, hungry and the homeless begin scavenging. To discourage the practice of “dumpster diving,” many supermarkets often lock up their dumpsters till the garbage collection trucks arrive. Quite a few stores even pour harmful chemicals like bleach to discourage scavengers.
Instead of letting the discarded food ending up in landfills, multiple charitable organizations have been attempting to tie up with the supermarkets. The organizations collect the unsold stock and ensure it reaches the hungry in a systematic way. One such organization, Fuel for School, delivers surplus bread, fruit, vegetables and dairy products from supermarkets to schools. Currently, the project is feeding more than 12,000 children per week.
According to a recent report, supermarkets regularly discard surplus stock that’s worth 230 million pounds each year. While the monetary value is staggering, it is even more unfortunate that the food could have easily been used to address the chronic hunger crisis.
Incidentally, the entire organization is run by volunteers. Moreover, those who can’t afford to buy even the surplus stock discarded by supermarkets are encouraged to contribute to the smooth functioning of the charitable organization by taking up chores like driving, weighing, sorting, stacking shelves, cleaning, etc.
[Featured Image by Glyn Kirk/Getty Images]
