– Paul Crewe , Sainsbury ’ s ’ Head of Sustainability
WASTE MANAGEMENT
by ” and “ best before ” dates are for consumers to know when the food is supposedly no longer safe . These dates , however , are all estimates .
As previously stated , throwing unsafe food away is the best interest of the person who would otherwise consume it , but often times the food that goes bad is seen as excess , which in a world of massive hunger disparity , is a major problem in itself .
“ We have a tendency to overbuy and overcook ,” CEO of SupermarketGuru . com Phil Lempert said . “ Awareness of how much food you ’ re wasting does help people buy properly . As prices go up , people also become more aware .”
Some supermarkets have attempted to mitigate this by donating food to hunger initiatives , though
Sainsbury ’ s is one of the largest grocery chains in the U . K regulations on what can and can ’ t be donated , and whether food can be donated at all , often make this more difficult than it needs to be .
U . K . supermarket chain Sainsbury ’ s is taking a different approach to managing its food waste : by turning its would-be wasted food into energy .
Nothing Goes to Waste In October of 2011 , Sainsbury ’ s signed a three-year deal with Biffa to send all of its food waste to anaerobic digestions for conversion into energy . The energy is used to power homes and businesses , while none of Sainsbury ’ s waste ever goes to landfill . It ’ s a solution to waste management that just makes sense , especially to Sainsbury ’ s former property director Neil Sachdev .
“ Sainsbury ’ s sends absolutely no waste to landfill and we ’ re always looking for new ways to reuse and recycle .”
– Paul Crewe , Sainsbury ’ s ’ Head of Sustainability
36 September 2014