on a thread i wrote how i used to see millions of near new books going for pulp when i worked at a book warehouse that dealt in returns and how wasteful it was- got me thinking do any of you guys cart away nearly new stuff or food from the Supermarkets thats out of date and where does it all go?
A heck of a lot of stuff is wasted in supermarkets daily. Things get dropped and smashed, by both the staff and customers. With thefts, it adds up to thousands of pounds per week per store. All the bakery stuff is binned a the end of the night, all those rolls etc are put in big plastic bags and binned. What a waste!
Think of all those newspapers and magazines that are sent back, although I think those are recycled.
Not done food, but years ago did loads of new books and mags for recycling. I once asked why and was told it was because of spelling mistakes, not noticed by the proof reader before they were printed. What a waste they could have told people that, and just sold them off cheap.
I took 26 pallets of out of date marmite from a warehouse in Doncaster up to a landfill site near Durham once. When I got there, the only way to unload it was to open both curtains and shove it off with the big digger thing they used to push waste about the site. By the time we’d finished, one side of the trailer was axle deep in Marmite. I kept some of it, reasoning that Marmite doesn’t go off … turns out it does. I had to feed 36 jars into the bin at Durham services. 
More wasteful was what they used to do - and for all I know, this still happens - at the big DIY stores I used to deliver to. Stuff they couldn’t sell - ex display stuff, end of line stock and what not - wasn’t just thrown away, it was actively destroyed. I remember talking to a couple of lads who said they’d been employed from an agency, issued with Stanley knives and told to spend the day slashing cushions which had been taken off sale. Another guy I spoke to was smashing up gas barbecues with an eight pound sledgehammer, purely because they were ex display models. These examples were at Focus DIY stores. Focus DIY has now gone bust.
When I was on supermarket deliveries, I used to sometimes find stuff in the skip which had gone out of date that very day. This’ll revolt some of you, but if the packaging was intact and clean I used to salvage it, and that was my lunch. Freeganism, they call it.
I’m not that old but old enough to remember the “butter mountain & the wine lake” EU wastefulness, financially & morally 
It’s ridiculous how much gets wasted in the uk! Can see why we recycle old news papers because nobody want to buy yesterday’s news or magazines but all that waste is ridiculous absolutely no need for it! Order what you can sell or what you need!
Rhythm Thief:
I took 26 pallets of out of date marmite from a warehouse in Doncaster up to a landfill site near Durham once. When I got there, the only way to unload it was to open both curtains and shove it off with the big digger thing they used to push waste about the site. By the time we’d finished, one side of the trailer was axle deep in Marmite. I kept some of it, reasoning that Marmite doesn’t go off … turns out it does. I had to feed 36 jars into the bin at Durham services.
More wasteful was what they used to do - and for all I know, this still happens - at the big DIY stores I used to deliver to. Stuff they couldn’t sell - ex display stuff, end of line stock and what not - wasn’t just thrown away, it was actively destroyed. I remember talking to a couple of lads who said they’d been employed from an agency, issued with Stanley knives and told to spend the day slashing cushions which had been taken off sale. Another guy I spoke to was smashing up gas barbecues with an eight pound sledgehammer, purely because they were ex display models. These examples were at Focus DIY stores. Focus DIY has now gone bust.
I used to park at the back of a lot of Focus / No frills stores overnight when we delivered to them, and every night you would get folk looking and climbing into the skips. I mentioned this to the guy at St Austell and he told me they get the stuff out of the skips then present themselves at customer services a day or 2 later say they have lost the reciept and want to return the item. they either got cash or credit note. That is why they started smashing stuff to pieces.
vwgpmk2:
I used to park at the back of a lot of Focus / No frills stores overnight when we delivered to them, and every night you would get folk looking and climbing into the skips. I mentioned this to the guy at St Austell and he told me they get the stuff out of the skips then present themselves at customer services a day or 2 later say they have lost the reciept and want to return the item. they either got cash or credit note. That is why they started smashing stuff to pieces.
I understood the reasoning behind it - the other thing that used to happen was that people would delve into the skips to find the good stuff and leave the rest of it strewn all over the yard - but there must have been a better way to get rid of this stuff. Donate it to a charity, or just pile it up at the front of the store and give it away. Anyone presenting themselves at customer services with no receipt would just be shown the door.
When i was docking we were on a container boat and 2 containers had falling off onto containers in the next line whilst at sea in rough weather and these 2 containers contents were written off and to be destroyed, it was top class wine but the lads in charge didn’t do a very good job destroying all the bottles wink wink.
Sufficed to say we had some away. 
I remember going into work at Halfords and seeing a couple of lads chopping roof racks up and chucking them in the skip. Apparently they were sub standard because some plastic protection was missing.
The reason for chopping them was to prevent them from turning up at boot sales and market stall, which would damage the sales of good ones.
we used to take 26 pallets of Strongbow from Bulmers in Hereford up to Ron Hulls in Rotherham regular and all that was up with them was that there was a bit too much sugar put into them not enough for someone to notice or make it unsafe to drink and the whole lot was detroyed 
I did ask a few times if I could take a few crates but was told that they were checked off and counted every time before they destroyed them.
The last place I worked at, we had a chap go out with a pallet of wine on the back of his trailer. he hadn’t strapped it, and upon accelerating away at a roundabout, the whole lot fell over. Wine everywhere, all over the bed of the trailer and dribbling out the back doors. There were … quite a few intact bottles, and they sat in the warehouse for months, gradually disappearing one by one. Eventually, when there were maybe sixty bottles left and it was getting on towards christmas, the management told certain favoured drivers (of whom I was one) to take what they wanted and enjoy. We divvied it up between about six of us. 
SteveBarnsleytrucker:
we used to take 26 pallets of Strongbow from Bulmers in Hereford up to Ron Hulls in Rotherham regular and all that was up with them was that there was a bit too much sugar put into them not enough for someone to notice or make it unsafe to drink and the whole lot was detroyed
That’s sweet and horrible cider anyway let alone having extra sugar in there it would’ve been vile.
when the floods hit Sheffield a couple of years back I went to one of the main players in tyres and exhausts, and took a full wagon of new tyres to a place in Manchester for them to be crumbed, as they had got contaminated with water■■? seriously that was what i was told…
This is more a potential wasteful load scenario. I used to work for TNT Newsfast, and while I was doing my induction, the trainer was pointing out the importance of getting the papers to the wholesalers on time. He made the point that if the papers were late, you’ve probably got about 26 pallets of newspapers which have just quickly become 26 pallets of waste paper. Nobody wants to buy yesterdays newspapers after all. Something you probably wouldn’t think of until its put across to you that way.
I’ve always wondered what happens to yesterday’s papers that don’t get sold do they cart them away to be recycled or do that throw them in the bin it seems really stupid that loads of this stuff is being wasted
SCANIA730:
I’ve always wondered what happens to yesterday’s papers that don’t get sold do they cart them away to be recycled or do that throw them in the bin it seems really stupid that loads of this stuff is being wasted
They get recycled. The newsagents send unsold papers back to the wholesalers. The wholesaler loads them into big cages and then they are collected by a haulier who takes them off somewhere to be recycled. That’s how it worked when I done the papers anyway.
damoq:
SCANIA730:
I’ve always wondered what happens to yesterday’s papers that don’t get sold do they cart them away to be recycled or do that throw them in the bin it seems really stupid that loads of this stuff is being wastedThey get recycled. The newsagents send unsold papers back to the wholesalers. The wholesaler loads them into big cages and then they are collected by a haulier who takes them off somewhere to be recycled. That’s how it worked when I done the papers anyway.
This one’s about the biggest and best-known;
My Dad once took a full load of Chanel perfume to a landfill as the bottles were a bit frosty, giving them a cloudy appearance, not up to the high standards of Chanel, so they binned the lot… well almost, we used it as air fresheners in the karzi we had that much of it