This is disgusting

[dingit]

Yes it was on social media, but I don't doubt it at all

A quote from a refuse collector:
“In the past 2 weeks, we have seen a 30% increase in Food Waste collected from households, the additional weight is mainly fresh food that has gone out of date and was never even touched, some still in wrappers. Refuse and Recycling tonnages are on a par with post Christmas collections.
That's the shameful and selfish truth of panic buying.”

I’m sure it’s correct. We were just saying last night that this would be happening. Boils my blood.

Total domestic food waste + total restaurant food waste + total supermarket foodwaste = X

Take out restaurant and supermarket food waste. Domestic food waste may have risen, but I doubt it is more than X.

I don't know. Our "hoarding" was very much store cupboard essentials that we would eventually work our way through. (And my big Lidl shop was three weeks ago and still came to less than £100.) We are trying as we can to top up with fresh stuff. I doubt that we are producing any more waste. And obviously we are not eating out, so no waste there.

The negativity and the "shock horror" is really getting to me. Yes there are some idiots. There always are. But most people are pulling together.

It’s not like everyone suddenly has massive freezers that they didn’t have two weeks ago.

But they do - people have been panic-buying freezers!

Haffiana, you ought to engage yours. Councils pay for disposal by the tonne, Landfill Directive and all that has meant that very large fines are payable for missed recycling targets/disposal to landfill.

Food waste is very heavy and all the councils that I work with, across the UK, are paying very much attention to food waste.

That is COMPLETELY different to scaremongering that bin men are going through YOUR bin bags to know how much food you have thrown away. Many restaurants, pubs and social centres will have had to throw away uneaten food in the last week. And will be doing so for a time to come.

One is economics and the other is tinfoil-hat paranoia and scaremongering.

Plus - there are many people, some of whom have posted on this board who, home for an enforced period of time, are taking the opportunity to clear out their drawers and have a declutter.

For the first time in weeks we have two food recycling bags to go in our food recycling bin.

Like others we have been cooking a lot more at home and using all the fruit and veg we can, both to stop it going off and to boost our immune system.

This has generated a lot of banana skins, fruit and veg peel, pips, skin, prawn shells, egg shells. chicken bones and so on.

It is not because we have panic bought and chucked away perfectly good food.

We use most things way beyond their use-by dates as well unless they look or smell bad.

@Bananalanacake......But if people realise they aren't going to use it could they take it to a food bank.

I take it you've missed the threads about not interacting unless absolutely necessary? People shouldn't be over-buying in the first place and those wishing to contribute to food banks should be doing it in store when they are shopping before going home and staying at home.

I will admit to having thrown a fair bit of food out last week - we went though the freezer and binned meat and fish etc that had definitely been in there too long and was not safe to eat. Yes, bad that we didn't make use of it before I know, but we're being much more careful now. I really think the post quoted in the OP is just someone trying to create drama on social media.

But they do - people have been panic-buying freezers!

You didn't phrase that quite right for this board. It is:

Greedy Wicked Rich Panic Buyers have been depriving righteous poor/deprived/NHS/homeless/(me really) of all the freezers!! My mate who works in a freezer shop said so and he has a Secret List of their Names for MI5!!

No refuse collector opens and checks the contents of bins before chucking it on their truck near me. Not a single one. Let alone check the dates or whether an item was opened or not

They do here. Not necessarily check the labels but they do check there is nothing in the top that should be in there. And as I said above, I have watched them sorting through for scrap, and seen them putting it in the cab of the truck. I had photos but not a good idea to post them on here.

In my country the food waste bin is the same as the gardening bin. Mine has been full because I mowed the lawn and did a lot more pruning and gardening than otherwise.

@Therollockingrogue Well aren't you Supermum!

@DontCallMeShitley ALL waste is sorted through on a conveyor belt by staff at the waste centre. Same all over the country

A lot of people cleared their freezers out to make room for more useful food items, I know I did, my freezer was full of things that had been there way too long and we would never eat. I chucked a few things away. Other than that we haven’t chucked any food away that we have bought in the past week or 2. We are buying what we need in the way of fresh food and have bought a few extra tins incase we have to isolate for 2 weeks.

My garden recycling had a bit of vegetable waste from before this started. Anything - fruit or veg I have bought since this started will be eaten. I am not wasting anything unless it’s dangerously off. Fruit and veg has a long shelf life if stored properly. Any meat scraps will go in the dog.

Normally I do waste food, but I am not now. I bought some spinach which I cooked and froze. Ditto onion and peppers.

I am also rationing my coffee supplies. I have cut down from my usual 2 cups to one.

Infuriating if true.
I was hoping that one silver lining from all this would be a lot less waste of perfectly good food.

As for the sheer idiocy of people who don’t use eyes and nose to tell them whether food is still fine, and instead treat the best-before date as gospel, they should be put in the stocks outside Asda and pelted with food that really is well and truly off. The stinkier and slimier the better.😈

@HavenDilemma, it probably is, however I am talking about seeing the binmen looking inside the bins before they load the waste into the truck. I have seen them opening the lids as they move them along the pavement to where the truck stops for loading.

I have also watched a different team to the usual ones after a holiday weekend, taking their time to lean into bins and remove stuff they thought they could sell. That is what I have photos of because I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

Our council is one that fines people for anything they can, including leaving the bins a bit too full to close the lids properly, putting the wrong stuff in the bins and has stickered bins for having the wrong waste in them, so yes they do look inside.

People have been mainly stockpiling loo roll, pastas, biscuits, beer..
Is that likely to be off already

I don't buy it.

As for the sheer idiocy of people who don’t use eyes and nose to tell them whether food is still fine, and instead treat the best-before date as gospel, they should be put in the stocks

in normal circumstances, possibly, but at a time people REALLY cannot afford to be ill ,they are sensible.

Sounds a lot like fake news to me

JustInCase, ‘best before‘ means just that. It doesn’t mean you’re going to be violently ill or die if you eat it a day or two later. Nose and common sense (alas not so common any more) should be any halfway intelligent person’s guide.

I know what it means, but people who are not used to eat home made food and fresh ingredients are right to be sensible.

I wouldn't encourage anyone to eat meat or fish past the date. I would imagine that bread, fruits and veg are pretty obviously good or bad!

This sounds made up, I’m sure that in general household waste collections have increased but I don’t believe that people are panic buying huge amounts of fresh food and then throwing it out. I also don’t believe that bin men are ripping bags open to check.

A lot of people cleared their freezers out to make room for more useful food items, I know I did, my freezer was full of things that had been there way too long and we would never eat. I chucked a few things away

Why, in times of national shortage, did you, or anyone for that matter, throw away the food you already had and go out and buy more food? The mind boggles. Couldn't you just have vowed to use up the things you already had?

Isn’t it more likely more people at home therefore eating more at home? My food waste has been more than usual and it’s not because I’m throwing away hoarded food that has gone off. It’s orange peelings, banana skins, apple cores, the peel from the veg I’ve used for chilli and soup, teabags, coffee grounds, avocado pits etc. We usually eat 2 meals a day out of the house. Now we are having an extra 20 meals a week at home. Of course there is more food waste.

Also - people haven’t generally been hoarding fresh fruit and veg. The stuff that has been missing around is is frozen food, tins, and dry goods.