Category Archives: Supermarket

Friday Buffet

Don’t look now, but Walmart is doing it again. The retail giant announced plans to reduce food waste at its stores by 10 to 15 percent! Hopefully this prompts other supermarkets to keep pace. — — Salon offered up the useful, fun Seven Tasty Ways to Stop Wasting Food. My favorite–“Don’t be a wuss” (eat […]

October 15, 2010 | Also posted in Composting, Events, Household | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

Huge news in the world of food waste: A new study out of the Univ. of Texas at Austin finds that the food America wastes represents about 2 percent of our total energy output. And, as the study’s authors note, it’s a conservative estimate because they use the 1995 estimate of 27 percent waste. New […]

July 30, 2010 | Also posted in Composting, Friday Buffet, Household | Comments closed

Former Joe Head Tackling Waste?

I came across this brief piece on Doug Rauch, the former Trader Joe’s head who is now at Harvard strategizing on how to end food waste. It’s the first I hear about it, but I was excited to hear that someone with that much industry know-how is studying the issue. I’m curious to hear what his […]

July 26, 2010 | Also posted in Food Recovery | Comments closed

Walmart wows ’em

Huge news from Arkansas–Walmart just announced it would donate a whopping $2 billion in food and cash to help the hungry. That total includes $1.75 billion of in-kind food donations that presumably are slightly blemished items and foods nearing or at their sell-by date. Given the retailer’s size–4,300 U.S. outlets (including Sam’s Clubs)–when Walmart acts, […]

May 13, 2010 | Also posted in Hunger | Comments closed

Courting Change

Don’t look now, but they’re at it again in the UK. On Thursday, WRAP announced an extension of an existing voluntary agreement to reduce packaging and food waste. As of Thursday’s launch, 29 food retailers and producers had signed on to the second installment of the Courtauld Commitment. The first was signed in 2005 and involved […]

March 8, 2010 | Also posted in Household, International | Comments closed

Morrisons Mission

The other day, I came across this fascinating Food Waste Factbook from Morrisonswhile researching British supermarkets’ response to food waste for my book. After reading through the handbook, I was impressed by the retail chain’s commitment to reducing waste in their stores. Heck, just putting out a 15-page document would put them atop the heap amongst American grocers. They even have […]

January 6, 2010 | Also posted in International | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

First BOGOFL, then lagom. Am I going insane? Possibly, but these aren’t indications of that, just ideas from the world of food waste reduction. To follow up on the Buy One Get One Free-Later idea, a poorly-worded survey found that 58 percent believe the ability to get the free item later would reduce supermarket waste. But…the idea is aimed […]

October 30, 2009 | Also posted in College, Friday Buffet, International, Trayless, Waste Stream | Comments closed

BOGOFL

I tweeted about this, but it deserves a quick post, too. Behold: UK retailer Tesco will soon offer Buy One Get One Free–Later. The shift comes in the name of Avoiding household waste with foods like produce and dairy items. When the 2-for-1 promotion is with perishable items, shoppers will receive a voucher for the free item […]

October 20, 2009 | Also posted in International | Comments closed

Tale of the Pizza Sale

I’ve been somewhat critical of Whole Foods on certain topics, so here’s an opportunity to give credit where credit’s due. The other night I went there for a few slices of pizza, mostly because it was on sale for half-price during September. I hadn’t realized it, but it was pretty late. I became aware of […]

October 1, 2009 | Also posted in Personal | Comments closed

Supermarket Stretching

Great news from Maine: In her Diner’s Journal blog, Julia Moskin wrote about a local grocer that finds a way to use up most of what it stocks. Oh, those frugal Mainers! Moskin’s reported details on Rosemont Markets, a kind of outtake from her piece on Portland’s food scene, seem so obvious in hindsight: When the local […]

September 23, 2009 | Also posted in Repurposing | Comments closed