Subject: Re: food waste

From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 29 Oct 1997 12:52:24 -0500 (EST)

An excellent opportunity to observe food waste is the rear dumpster area of
your local super- or hyper-market. At a nearby store, I notice there are four
large dumpsters two of which, in the course of an average day, will be loaded
with overage and cuttings/trimmings from produce alone. 

It is possible to donate such "waste" to food banks and other organizations
dedicated to using what is still usable to feed people who probably can't
afford the local market's prices. 

Asking both ends of that possibility, the markets and the organizations,
about this wealth of waste put out daily from the markets was a bit of a
comment on contemporary ways in which evasion of responsibility on one end is
matched, to a large degree, with impotence on the other.

The supermarket produce manager whom I queried said that he would feel much
better if he could indeed make his overage produce available. The
organization I queried said they would delighted to pick it up. So why not?

The supermarket produce manager said he had orders not to make the overage
produce readily available because of insurance requirements that all
foodstuffs sold or put into food channels be certified as edible--which is
why the overage produce is dumped.

The organization said that their budget had been chopped to the point where
they had to give up four of their five collection trucks.

Savage capitalism wins. Some way has to be found to trim populations of
undesirables. Why not starve them to death especially if they are out of
sight and out of mind.

Meanwhile, the dumptster divers are having a small feast.

And, if you are interested in a major dumpster of worms, spend some time
looking into atttempts to create larger scale composting organizations which
could or would collect from the food service and marketing industries to
compost.

I am old enough to remember that household food waste garbage was collected
twice or three times a weeks to take to the county farm to feed the pigs.
Then someone invented the pigs in the sinks which raise conniption with sewer
systems and such. 

Milo Clark
Berkeley CA USA