CRIMINAL WASTE
As if that panic-buying wasn’t maddening enough, now culprits are throwing out food they didn’t eat
FOR weeks, panic buyers have piled their trolleys high with far more food than they needed.
Yesterday the results were as sickening as they were predictable as heaps of often unopened fresh produce and meat could be seen spilling out of rubbish bins.
These shameful images of food waste were captured by a former Liberal Democrat councillor yesterday in Derby, showing dustbins overflowing with discarded food.
Ajit Singh Atwal shared a series of photos on Twitter alongside the caption: ‘If you have gone out and panic bought like a lot of you have and stacked up your houses with unnecessary items you don’t normally buy or you have bought in more food than you need, then you need to take a good look at yourself.’
Loaves of bread, bunches of bananas and unopened packs of chicken products had all been tossed aside after they went past their use-by date.
Britons have hoarded food worth £1billion during the past fortnight despite assurances from the Government and retail chiefs that there is still plenty in the supply chain.
The post was met with a furious response by people condemning the behaviour of the stockpilers after similar scenes were also reported across the country, including Frankby, Wirral.
One, @queentilli, wrote: ‘There should be financial penalties for this kind of thing.’
Another, @ St e phen34184311, added: ‘What a waste!!! Unbelievable that food could have helped somebody who really needed it self greed at it’s best.’
A third, @ Ant_ CFC_ 203, commented: ‘Disgraceful. I hope these people look back and realise they have let themselves and their communities down.’
Now waste management chiefs expect an ‘avalanche’ of leftover food to be coming their way – possibly even bigger than their usual Christmas mountain.
Howard Burton – of manufacturing firm Landia, which makes anaerobic digesters ( ADs) that break down food waste – said: ‘As panic buyers begin to regret overloading their supermarket trolleys with too many perishables, the sudden rush of food waste may arrive at AD plants at an even bigger rate than the post-Christmas wave of unwanted goods.’
The scale of the food waste was predicted by experts in advance.
Richard Wilding, professor of supply chain management at Cranfield School of Management, Bedfordshire, had warned: ‘Around one third of food for human consumption gets lost or wasted globally, around 1.3 billion tonnes a year.
‘Most of this food waste occurs when it reaches consumers – and what i s happening with panic buying is a potential increase of avoidable waste at the end of the chain, after purchase.’
In last week’s Mail on Sunday, Tesco boss Dave Lewis called for Britons t o ask t hemselves if they really needed all the food in their shopping baskets. Nevertheless, there were few signs of a let-up in the rush to the supermarket aisles or for online deliveries last week.
Ocado has been operating at full capacity during the crisis and said yesterday it had around ten times more demand for its services than it did before the outbreak began.
Online orders are now limited to one per week per customer, while some items have also been limited to just two per person.
Lord Stuart Rose, chief executive of the online delivery firm, urged consumers to act rationally as he revealed Britons had hoarded an extra £1 billion worth of food over the past couple of weeks.
Sales at other supermarkets have soared, leaving the stackers struggling to fill the empty shelves.
NHS England national medical director Stephen Powis similarly accused panic buyers of depriving healthcare staff of the food supplies they need, adding: ‘Frankly we should all be ashamed.’
‘They have let themselves and their communities down’