£12.5 B of Food Binned in the UK

[SummerRain]

Well, I don't know about the UK, but here in the US there are people who want to divert binned/trashed food to people who could really use the food, or to organizations/agencies that would distribute the food to the hungry. Perhaps all that is needed in the UK is for someone to step up, take charge, and say, "All that food being binned is wasteful and I'd like to get it to people who could use it." There's an opening. Anyone in the UK want to take it?

I thought I had heard that a company in the UK used to do this, and then got sued because somebody got sick from eating the waste food. Now I think they spoil the food to stop this happening - I tried to find a news article and couldn't though, but I couldn't remember which company it was.

I don't necessarily feel bad when I throw food away. I feel bad that I throw away food waste that could be composted, but our garden isn't ours so we can't set up a compost (plus we're moving within the year). But for things I wouldn't compost, I try to buy to limit food waste and I tend to use up left-overs/etc because it's cheaper and the food doesn't end up on landfill. But I don't really understand what's gained from eating something (especially if it's gone off, which is when I throw it away) rather than throwing it away. I understand there are people without food, but I guess I don't see how me throwing away food relates to that? I think the issues are more to do with the disparity between rich and poor, not paying people a living wage, not having safety nets/social help to protect/help people, etc, rather than there not being physically enough food to go around.

I'm probably an idiot and there's an obvious reason that I'm missing, but the concept of "you shouldn't waste food because some people don't have any" always struck me as more symbolic than practical.

 

[Blobbenstein]

I'm probably an idiot and there's an obvious reason that I'm missing, but the concept of "you shouldn't waste food because some people don't have any" always struck me as more symbolic than practical.

I think the idea is that one should get out of the habit of wasting food, and do this by only buying what one is going to actually use.

 

[Clueless Git]

I'm probably an idiot and there's an obvious reason that I'm missing, but the concept of "you shouldn't waste food because some people don't have any" always struck me as more symbolic than practical.

The practicality runs a little deeper than may be obvious, SR.

Food, basicaly, is a way of making money from land and that food goes to where the most money is first.

If where the most money is buys less food then more food has to be sent, to be sold, to where the most money isn't.

The ultimate manifestation of this is the criminal wastefullness of converting food, with massive inneficiency, via animals.

That ends up with the livestock of rich countries effectively outbidding the human populations of poorer countries for global food resources.

 

[Blobbenstein]

yes it amazes me these charities asking for three quid a month. By eating animal products some people must boost the cost of world grain prices by more than three quid a month for people in third world countries, I would guess.

 

[Clueless Git]

yes it amazes me these charities asking for three quid a month. By eating animal products some people must boost the cost of world grain prices by more than three quid a month for people in third world countries, I would guess.

Aye,

I firmly believe that the cheapest and most effective thing any individual can ever do to alleviate the root causes of starvation is to adopt a vegan diet.

It's not just about food.

It's also about human displacement from good land onto 'bad' land.

A mind boggling amount of good land is removed from human use, in favour of animal use, to support the omni diet.

A vegan diet removes animals, and everything needed to feed and house them, from the good land they use and occupy

That free's vast amounts of good land back into usage for feeding and homing human populations.


As a btw ...

I can't actualy look at an omni without thinking "You evil c**t! You would rather feed a cow to feed your own fat face on than feed a starving baby!"