Supermarkets Tell Us About Price Cuts – but Can They Cut Waste?

According to statisticians, one third of the food we buy ends up in landfill.

And that waste is costing each of our households around pounds420 per year – and causing serious damage to the environment.

Being fiscally prudent, taking individual responsibility to decrease food waste, and caring for the environment are noble causes, but what about the mountains of wasted grub churned out by the supermarket industry?

While households throw out an estimated 6.7 million tonnes of food per annum, a report this year by the Sustainable Development Commission revealed that retailers themselves dump 1.6 million tonnes of the stuff into landfill each year.

The 18-month study found that many supermarket practices are still unhealthy, unjust and unsustainable.

A separate study by Imperial College for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, found that supermarkets preferred to throw away food that was approaching its sell-by date, rather than mark it down in price, because the cost of staff time was greater than the money made on the reduced items.

Given these findings, some of the responsibility for the UK’s food waste lies with supermarkets, as well as with consumers.

But what are the multi-national retailers doing to reduce waste? The Echo put this question to three supermarket chains in Exeter, the Co-op, Sainsbury’s and Marks & Spencer.

With increased media pressure and public awareness, the supermarkets say they are now doing more to tackle the problem.

While some offer reductions on food nearing its sell-by date, others monitor consumer demand, and two supermarkets said they give some surplus food to local charities.

Marks and Spencer said they have various measures in place to reduce food waste, such as moving the sell-by date and use-by dates closer together on perishable goods to increase the amount of time customers have to buy products.

"We also sell food products that are on their last display date at a reduced price – a move that could help us cut food waste from stores by 10 per cent," said Marks & Spencer spokesman Jo Pinate.

"We offer close to sell-by date food products to staff at a discounted rate and donate any remaining products to charities, both on a national level via Fareshare and on a local level to hostels, charities and farms.

"Over the last year, nearly half the waste generated has been recycled or reused and we are also trialling the collection of food waste for electricity generation, composting and anaerobic digestion."

Meanwhile, The Co-op, which sends around 35,000 tonnes of food to landfill each year, said it was minimising waste levels by using special sales prediction technology.

A spokesman for the Co-operative Group said: "The technology brings stock into store to meet anticipated demand on a daily basis.

"This process is carefully managed and also leads to a reduction in the actual number of products reaching their sell-by dates.

"Any products nearing their sell-by date are reduced in price to encourage a quick sale, in order to minimise wastage levels.

"Products which reach their sell-by date cannot be sold and these are sent to landfill, other than oil and fat and raw meats, which are sent to bio-fuel manufacturers and rendering companies."

At Sainsbury’s, food near, or on, its sell-by date is either reduced and put on sale, or used in the staff canteen for staff meals.

"We prefer to offer our customers a price reduction rather than throw away food," said Sainsbury’s spokesman Cheryl Kuczynski.

"Food that isn’t sold to customers and colleagues, used in the colleague canteen, or sent to charity, is sent for composting and anaerobic digestion. We have reduced food waste considerably and constantly strive to avoid it."

Like the Co-op, Sainsbury’s uses sales figures and economic data to predict consumer demand and decrease the amount of food that eventually gets scrapped.

Seasonal influences can also affect sales.

"Hot pies and soups sell well in winter, whereas salads and barbecue products sell well in summer, and this affects product lines," said Cheryl.

"Celebrities such as Jamie Oliver hugely affect consumer demand and sales too.

"Following the current Jamie Oliver salmon fish cake TV ad, sales of our Basics salmon fillets have increased by more than 200 per cent."

Sainsbury’s also works with a number of charities, such as Fareshare, Food For All and the Salvation Army, which benefit from surplus food that might otherwise have gone to landfill.

In Exeter, Sainsbury’s in the Guildhall gives food that is beyond its sell-by date, but within its use-by date, to St Petrock’s, a shelter for the homeless in the city centre, and to a local swan and bird sanctuary.

"In the last year, Sainsbury’s has donated pounds3.3m or 6,300 tonnes worth of food to these organisations," said Cheryl.

While the store says it is trying to decrease food waste, Cheryl says this has to be balanced with Sainsbury’s other priority – to always provide customers with the food they want.

Supermarkets do share some of the burden for the UK’s food waste problem, but it is largely consumers who steer the market.

Spoilt for choice, we expect the products we want to always line the aisle shelves – and for supermarkets to meet these demands.

If the UK is serious about reducing food waste, supermarkets and consumers will need to work together.

(c) 2008 Express & Echo (Exeter UK). Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.