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Supermarkets and stuff..

Not sure why I'm blogging on this today but hey ho..


There is a new French law which bans supermarket chains from throwing away food. It has to be reused in one of several ways. Its a great idea but there is a dilemma in all of this, because despite the (processed to one degree or another) food going to better use than landfill: we would do better if it never made it to the shelf.

What?

Bear with me a moment. We produce too much: I’m sure there is a calculated formula by supermarket strategists to work out how much you have to buy in to make sure you never run out. And it means they buy too much in and too much is wasted. And then we applaud as we waste more energy reusing it.

All of this, it seems to me, is made worse by us. Yes us. The consumer. Because supermarkets know we will go elsewhere if we keep finding that our supermarket of choice doesn’t have the whole asparagus that we so desperately need (I’m parodying). I think I am being logical in thinking that that is we were all able to suck up the fact that we can’t always have exactly what we want exactly when we want it- then we would waste less.

I’m pretty sure small bakers do OK even though they say: sorry we are out of that. Why not the big supermarkets? Why not make less stuff so we waste less stuff?

And why not embrace a lifestyle that says we can’t always have everything we want right now..

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