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Bakeries: Difference between revisions
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(Created page with "==Food waste== In {{p2|developed countries|such as Canada, USA, UK, Australia, and probably others}}, nearly 50% of all food goes to waste. In other words, there's about as much food in the trash as there is on people's plates. Bakeries likely play a major role in this. ===Typical business practice=== The bakery makes large amounts of everything in the morning, in hopes that a lot of customers show up. Anything that doesn't get sold by the end of the day...") |
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Bakeries likely play a major role in this. | Bakeries likely play a major role in this. | ||
===Typical business practice=== | ===Typical business practice=== | ||
The bakery makes large amounts of everything in the morning, in hopes that a lot of customers show up. Anything that doesn't get sold by the end of the day, usually gets thrown away. | The bakery makes large amounts of everything in the morning, in hopes that a lot of customers show up. Anything that doesn't get sold by the end of the day, usually gets '''thrown away'''. | ||
On average, this is probably about '''half''' of all the food they make. {{p|Estimate based on:<br /><br />~ Extrapolating from general food waste statistics.<br /><br />~ Observations from dumpster divers.<br /><br />~ Unpredictability of customer demand, from one day to the next. {{x|Anyone who worked in a bakery can confirm that some days are really busy and some days are slow, and you can't always predict ahead of time.}} To compensate for this, as a "safety margin", bakeries probably bake about 2x as many goods as they sell.}} | |||
===The economics favor this wasteful practice because:=== | ===The economics favor this wasteful practice because:=== | ||
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*** The business would rather risk wasting food than selling out. | *** The business would rather risk wasting food than selling out. | ||
**** In some jurisdictions, there are even ''fines'' for businesses that sell out. | **** In some jurisdictions, there are even ''fines'' for businesses that sell out. | ||
===Why not discount the leftovers instead of throwing them out?=== | ===Why not discount the leftovers instead of throwing them out?=== | ||
# Some businesses do, but the '''sheer volume''' of day-old goods is higher than people are willing to buy. Most customers want something fresh. {{x|By the way, this shows that consumer choices '''are''' to blame for much of food waste.}} But since there are just as many leftovers as there are fresh goods, most leftovers don't get sold. | # Some businesses do, but the '''sheer volume''' of day-old goods is higher than people are willing to buy. Most customers want something fresh. {{x|By the way, this shows that consumer choices '''are''' to blame for much of food waste.}} But since there are just as many leftovers as there are fresh goods, most leftovers don't get sold. | ||
#* | #* <small>This is ''especially'' true in rich & middle-class neighborhoods.</small> | ||
# Snobby businesses are afraid to tarnish their image by selling sub-par goods. | # Snobby businesses are afraid to tarnish their image by selling sub-par goods. | ||
# Occasionally, business owners will argue that it's bad practice because: | # Occasionally, business owners will argue that it's bad practice because: | ||
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{{minor|In a theoretical free market, leftovers would never be wasted, because there's always an optimal price to sell them at (instead of throwing them out and getting nothing for them). But this fails in practice, for the reasons above. And also because garbage collection is a public service. Maybe if businesses had to pay to get their trash removed, they wouldn't waste as much.}} | {{minor|In a theoretical free market, leftovers would never be wasted, because there's always an optimal price to sell them at (instead of throwing them out and getting nothing for them). But this fails in practice, for the reasons above. And also because garbage collection is a public service. Maybe if businesses had to pay to get their trash removed, they wouldn't waste as much.}} | ||
===Why not donate them to poor & homeless people?=== | ===Why not donate them to poor & homeless people?=== | ||
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* The sheer volume of all leftovers might be more than all the local poor & homeless people can eat. | * The sheer volume of all leftovers might be more than all the local poor & homeless people can eat. | ||
** Evidenced by: for example: 1% of the population is homeless but 50% of all food goes to waste. | ** Evidenced by: for example: 1% of the population is homeless but 50% of all food goes to waste. | ||
*** Note: Food waste is still a problem, even when there are very few people starving ''locally''. The global food supply is affected, making it harder for people around the world to afford food. | |||
====Rude explanation==== | ====Rude explanation==== | ||
Business owners might be: | Business owners might be: | ||
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*** Baked goods have a shelf life of several days, sometimes a week. Even when they get dry, stale and hard, they are still safe to eat as long as there is no mold. There are even recipes to make use of stale baked goods. <!-- TODO: Create a page with recipes. Link to it from here. --> | *** Baked goods have a shelf life of several days, sometimes a week. Even when they get dry, stale and hard, they are still safe to eat as long as there is no mold. There are even recipes to make use of stale baked goods. <!-- TODO: Create a page with recipes. Link to it from here. --> | ||
< | |||
* | ===Solutions=== | ||
* | {{minor|In this case, personal changes would probably have the biggest effect.}} | ||
====Personal changes==== | |||
* As consumers, we should ask bakeries to sell their leftovers (discounted), and we should buy them as often as we buy fresh. | |||
* If you feel adventurous, get into [[dumpster diving]]. | |||
====Systemic changes==== | |||
<div class="expandable-bullets"> | |||
* Abolish any laws that issue fines to businesses for selling out. | |||
* Make businesses pay to have their trash removed. | |||
** <small>This is already implemented in some jurisdictions.</small> | |||
** <small>For people / residential, trash removal could still remain free (publicly funded).</small> | |||
** We'd need an additional policy/law to '''prevent''' businesses from '''locking their dumpsters'''. | |||
*** Locking is often motivated by fear that everyone else will dump trash in the business's dumpster, which would cost the business money. | |||
**** {{minor|I'm not sure how likely this actually is, since residential & public areas have their own garbage bins anyway. The occasional dumping would probably be dwarfed by the business's own trash.}} | |||
*** Dumpster locking prevents anyone from recovering the leftover baked goods, making it harder to solve the food waste problem. | |||
* Convert leftovers into meal-replacement bars for international [[food aid]]. {{npn}} | |||
</div> | |||