Wasteful practices that bug you

[Sad Eyed Lady]

I feel the same as most of you who have posted here about bottled water, styrofoam cups, all the throw away stuff that our society so eagerly embraces. But, I think the ONE thing that always makes really sad is the waste or food that could be given to the homeless, to shelters etc. but because of rules and regulations must be throw away. I am thinking in particular of places that serve "family style" and will bring large bowls of food to the table. There is usually just DH and myself, so of course we are not going to eat bowls of food! I was in the rest room later when one of the servers came in and I asked her about it thinking maybe the servers got to take home some leftovers. (take out boxes are allowed at this place I think). She said "no, we have to throw it all away". I know there are rules but good food, taken out with a clean spoon, has to be throw in the trash? That bothers me when I know there are hungry people that it would be a feast for. This was a fairly pricey restaurant at an historic restored shaker village and they are known for their good food, but why not serve LESS of it and bring one more serving if a person requires it? Too wasteful Makes me sad.

[catherine]

I agree, SEL--I did some volunteer work at a homeless shelter in NYC and one of the reasons that I will always go to the healthy grab-and-go store, Pret A Manger in NYC, is because they donate all their expired food to the shelter. Not sure why other companies don't take the time to find the loopholes that permit doing the same.

[Bacawind]

Years ago, in a small nearby town, I worked in the kitchen of a restaurant. The plates coming into the kitchen after a meal were scraped into a trash can. At the end of the night we could take home that bag of scraps for our chickens and compost.

Our nearest grocery store will sell us ripe produce for a discount. I was surprised they could do this. I'm not slipping in and out the back door, I go right through the checkout line with a heaping box of food with a price written on the side. Nothing is weighted, no produce codes to punch in. Anything that is past eat-ability, goes to compost. It's a win-win-win! The grocer gets some money for what is a few days from the trash bin, we get to try a variety of produce that I probably wouldn't have bought, and our compost piles are thriving!

[lmerullo]

But, I think the ONE thing that always makes really sad is the waste or food that could be given to the homeless, to shelters etc. but because of rules and regulations must be throw away.

This ^...

Many years ago, I took my leftovers from dinner in a takeout box. As we were driving, we had a change of plans and were not going directly home to refrigerate my food. I directed dh to drive by the "known homeless area" and I gifted my meal to someone. Now, I regularly take what is left and give to those same people - on purpose, and with no intention of taking my leftovers home for me, but the restaurant is just going to throw it in the garbage.

Other waste - watering for a green lawn, not using the last of a bottle of something - I put one bottle upside down on top of the other and drain every last drip, what I term the cheapening of produced products - it's like they want stuff to fail in a short time so one must buy a new one instead of the "old-fashioned" quality of lasting a lifetime.

[frugal-one]

The local grocery store gives day old or bruised (sometimes perfect)produce and bakery items to the local senior center. People line up to take what they want. It is amazing the "stuff" they would have thrown out that is perfectly edible. Today they also had organic milk and eggs that were a few days away from expiration .... for free. I frequent this grocery store more than I did in the past based on this generosity. I don't know why more places don't do this????

[redfox]

And then some hungry people eat that food out of the dumpster. Nothing solved, nothing prevented by the restaurant. Pathetic.

[SiouzQ.]

It is heart-breaking how much food gets wasted on a daily basis at my job - only pre-packaged items can go to the food bank. The items taken off the hot bar after their allotted time are spoiled out. I do tend to do a lot of one bite snacking at work before it gets tossed. Yep, my waistline is starting to show it too...but it is hard to see perfectly good food go to waste.

[pinkytoe]

He doesn't eat half of what he grows.

I walk a lot in my neighborhood and am confounded by all the food I see growing that never gets eaten. There is one house on a corner with multiple raised beds full of cabbages, broccoli, and greens and not one bit of it has been picked. It is as if the garden in your front yard is more of a look how trendy I am thing rather than growing it to actually eat. Our city just moved to recycling or composting literally everything. They sent a guide today that will take a bit of time to go through as there is much to learn but glad they are at least attempting it.

[SteveinMN]

Different food shelves have different rules, usually brought on by different capabilities. Our regional food bank has standing agreements with many local supermarkets and restaurants to accept prepared food that has not been served; they can take it hot or cold and keep it safe to eat until it is redistributed to homeless shelters, etc., within a few hours. But that depends on having trucks which can keep the food at the right temperature and on a large-enough client base to actually justify the expense of the trucks and staff and deliveries. Once food has been served, it cannot be re-served -- you just never know when someone who is sick (and may not know it) or is sick (in-the-head sick) could contaminate the food.

not using the last of a bottle of something - I put one bottle upside down on top of the other and drain every last drip

I do this, too. I was amazed to find how much was left inside a bottle of skin moisturizer.

One would think that the people who sell the plastic jug could find a material for the bottle which did not cling to the moisturizer so well. But then one thinks that a) this is not the packaging company's problem; b) the moisturizer company likes it, too, because they sell more product; and c) neither one of them pays for the disposal of not-quite-empty bottles of moisturizer anyway, so why do they care?

[SiouzQ.]

I use a utility knife to cut open bottles of lotion so I can get every last bit - sometimes I have eked out three more days worth of body lotion clinging to the sides by doing this!