Thursday 12 July 2012

What A Waste....!

PrettyBoy got in from his night shift at the hospital at 7am this morning.  He'd been on robot and porter duties, the latter which includes him and a colleague  sneaking off for a sly coffee every half hour  guiding huge cages of waste - mainly food -  from wards, kitchens and shops, to the refuse area. 

This is an action they both hate following.  It is policy to destroy any food or vanity product that has to be sold within the 'best before' date on the item.  Most of these goods still have a day or two to spare as newer goods are delivered.  I kid you not, but a massive mound, a HUGE variety of meats, sandwiches, sweets, coffee beans, chocolates, desserts, filled fruit baskets, and toiletries, are binned.  The majority of the stuff comes from Marks & Spencer and Starbucks. And despite same-day-date-dumping, they still have a few days (and some, weeks)  to spare before actual spoilage.  They are instructed to slit the packets before dumping them.

What irritates me the most is that these products could go to other causes. Particularly the homeless. People would be more than happy to collect and distribute for that and other charitable causes. Hang - I'd even be happy to see it go to the fox or urban wildlife!  But it ALL must go.  Destroyed.

I know policy is policy but the next scrawny, malnourished and weary soul's cup that I chuck a couple of quid into, I could be letting them in on a resolve to their day's hunger and sparing them the public plea.  Weird, isn't it, that a place that is paramount to our well-being, is denying some the most important requirement of survival?  What a shit world we live in! 
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3 comments:

Jon said...

We could probably feed an entire nation with all the food that is wasted here in the good ol' U.S. of A.

Wally B said...

use by dates should be outlawed. I did see a funny one recently. I bought a packet of salt that had been layed down several million years ago (according to the blurb)It also had a a use by date of 12.12.13

Hey Monkey Butt said...

shit world indeed, full of hungry people and sickness.