5/9/09 - Skipped Smoothover at Climate Camp

On Friday 28th August myself and the skipped smoothy retinue Rachel Solnick and Ellie Stevens visited one of the main fruit veg and flower wholesale markets in the UK, serving all of London the Midlands, East Anglia and Kent. We went to reclaim some of the food waste that is generated daily at the wholesale market. It was our mission to relocate the misplaced fruit and veg, mix the ripe and fragrant fruits and virile vegetables into immune boosting smoothies and distribute them for free to attendees of climate camp, using the great tasting smoothies as an example of the ludicrous scale of good food going to waste on a daily basis in the UK. However, before transporting the free and perfectly edible fruit to the Blackheath climate camp, the shock of physically encountering such enormous piles of mouth watering fruit and veg destined for landfill and anaerobic biodigesters jolted me into vowing to examine the UK food production line.

Food consumption in the UK accounts for an average of 1.5tonnes per person of CO2 emissions annually, almost the same amount of C02 emissions generated from average flying habits of UK residents (1.2tonnes), and the same amount of CO2 generated from the average UK residents car use. Food consumption habits and choices have a big impact when reducing individual carbon footprints. One of the main contributors to Britain’s carbon intensive food consumption is the intensive farming of enteric livestock. Cows and sheep release large amounts of the potent GHG methane, while the common supplementary feedstock used to rapidly bulk out beef is made from Soy. Soy plantations dominate large sections of land in South America and are responsible for aggressive deforestation, not only devastating virgin rainforest but destroying natural carbon sinks; releasing large quantities of CO2 into the atmosphere while preventing absorption of the increasing levels of carbon dioxide by beautiful ancient trees. Additionally to food production and transportation related GHG emissions there is the environmental and social problem of colossal food waste. On average UK households throw away around 6tonnes of edible food a year, and this is only waste generated at the point of consumption. Further up the food supply chain there are levels of waste that can be dramatically reduced. The UK food industry produces 6.5 million tones of waste per year – 10% of all UK commercial waste. The globally dominant Western food production cycle is seriously flawed. Resources are used along the production line, land, fertilizers, man power, transportation, fossil fuels, packaging, water, only to be deemed as waste upon arrival by EU and British governments and grocery retail superpowers. The question of why there is so much waste needs to be addressed, and those responsible for monumental waste generation must be challenged and held accountable for contributing to climate change while perpetuating global injustice and food poverty. Not only is it unethical to transport vast quantities of delicious food around the world to be promptly buried in the ground upon arrival when half the worlds population are living with food poverty, it is also an environmental nightmare.

Seeing as most of the food waste I personally encountered on Friday was fruit, I will concentrate on the stuff. Britain imports 2.5million tones of the 3.5 million tones of fruit annually consumed from third world countries. Due to stringent quality control measures enforced by EU food marketing standards, including something called the cosmetic conformity standard, boxes and boxes of fruit and veg are discarded at point of import simply because they do not meet the aesthetic definitions of tasty fruit. Once the wonderfully ripe fruit has been discarded by our food marketing regulation keepers due to more than 10% of the box being just a little too ripe, looking brilliantly weird or maybe more oval than round, the waste is either sent to landfill or to anaerobic biodigester plants. Although anaerobic biodigesters are environmentally better than landfill sites, processing organic waste to produce biogas then used to generate electricity and a slurry that is excellent as an agricultural fertilizer; the problem is that there shouldn’t be so much food waste generated in the first place. While the production, transportation and disposal of surplus food continues to be culturally acceptable, food waste is primarily going to landfill. As a method of waste management landfill sites are detrimental to the wellbeing of the environment in several ways. Landfill sites are responsible for large amounts of methane emissions; in 2007 landfill emitted 1million tones of methane, more than the agricultural sector. Landfill also contaminates local watercourses and uses up land that could otherwise be used for more beneficial purposes. Large landfill sites are around 100hectares in size, that’s the same as approximately 100 athletic stadiums, enough space to grow approximately 50,000 fruit trees such as apples, cherries and pears.

As consumers we have the power to oppose food production systems that allow such waste generation. Our purchasing power is one of the most effective ways to reduce food waste and establish more sustainable low carbon lifestyles. By refusing to shop at supermarkets that condone excessive food ordering and lobbying food and environment ministers while ensuring that minimal food is wasted at home, it is possible to establish more sustainable food consumption patterns. An environmentally and socially responsible public must make it clear to suppliers and policy makers that a tear shaped orange is no need for a tantrum and bulbous courgettes are not distasteful. Such strict regulations enforced by the food import industry and supermarkets alike suggest that the consuming public are obsessed with pristine perfection. If this is the case, then I am frankly offended because I don’t recall being ever told that nature regularly produces exact replicas of anything, including fruit and vegetables that look like waxwork props from Madame Taussauds. The problem with such a cultural fixation on edible perfection and food standardization is that it contributes to the problem of food waste that I encountered in small quantities last Friday. By accepting this waste we allow the depletion of resources at locations where people are already exhausted, hungry and powerless just so we can have a selection of perfect exotic fruits.

The hidden environmental social and economic costs of ‘supermarket shelf choice’ are huge. Considering that the four big UK supermarkets (Asda, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Morrison’s) held 78% of grocery market shares in November 2008, it is clear that these franchises hold enormous power of how the food we eat is sourced, transported and supplied. By continuing to shop at these mind sterilizing stores we indirectly support superfluous food production systems. Reducing dependence on such market powers and growing our own food or joining community growing schemes, while starting to source indigenous food locally, consumers can take strong steps towards actively objecting to the harmful and unfair generation of food waste. Before you reach out for a perfectly formed fruit on the shelf, just think of the ‘faulty’ but tasty fruity friends shaped authentically and unusually, only to be cruelly thrown into the bin, I mean landfill by the cosmetic regulators of the fruit and vegetable world. By shopping locally and committing to buying seasonal British fruit and veg in pre figured quantities we can all employ a more sustainable and lower carbon lifestyle. Go forth, limit personal food waste generation and gleefully gather oddly shaped fruit and veg from your local suppliers, planting seeds as you step out!

Watch some video links here

http://climatecamp.org.uk/blog/2009/08/30/bike-powered-smoothies

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvZFCSAOqpg&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tn2uuo9y8HI