Sainsburys Social Responsibility

The UK economy has reached an all-time high with food waste reaching a staggering 7.3 million tonnes in households alone, an increase of 4.4% from 7 million tonnes in 2012. However, consumers are not the only criminals as supermarkets such as Sainsbury’s waste a formidable 35,832 tonnes each year. Despite this, is the manufacturing industry to blame for these incomprehensible figures?

With enticing deals greeting customers at the entrance of every aisle, it is almost impossible to fall under the illusion of a ‘Buy one get one free’, ‘Half price’ or ‘3 for 2’. Who can blame us? Who doesn’t love a bargain or a freebie? Consequently, 7.3 million tonnes of household food waste is increasing at an alarming rate, of which almost 40% of this waste was “avoidable waste”, the leading cause of this prominent number being over purchasing on the consumers behalf. 67% of food waste in France is binned by consumers. According to numerous studies carried out worldwide, consumers are to blame for the

Preferentially, perhaps encouraging consumers to buy more food than necessary in their weekly shop. Notably, leading supermarkets, Sainsbury’s for instance reaches an annual food surplus of 38,767 tonnes of which 2,935 tonnes is donated to charities and claim their aim “is for all stores to have at least one food donation partner by 2020”. On the other hand, France have taken utmost measures to tackle 7.1m tonnes of annual food waste head on under a law passed by the French senate to ‘ban supermarkets from throwing away or destroying unsold food’. Similarly, food waste campaigners from the Real Junk Food Project have taken matters into their own hands and have opened “the warehouse”, a food waste supermarket in Leeds that allows struggling families to feed their children on a “pay as you feel” basis. “The warehouse has absolutely been our lifeline over the past month or so,” a struggling mother told The