Do supermarkets have a responsibility to be green/ethical?

SusanCarter

Lynzpower, thanks for the insiders view. I guess historically, before there were supermarkets, greengrocers' food supplies were more local but as the supermarkets started bringing in food from abroad, it got cheaper and they had to do the same to compete. I guess we are all just assuming that greengrocers work the same way they always did.

On that topic, does anyone have the insiders view on where butcher's supplies come from. I know that when I was in my teens (the 1990's) our butcher used to be shut one half day a week because he would go to market to buy his animals before they went to the slaughter house. I'm assuming that would make the meat fairly local but not sure. Don't know what he does these days or whether that's a common practice for butchers.

deanos

Since BSE alot of slaughter houses situated on site at the butchers got shut down i think they brought in loads of legistation and made it very expensive to run , the butcher i use gets all his meat from the slaughter house 15 miles away and its all locally produced meat tastes a hell of alot better then the supermarket meat

Its best to have a word and ask your local butcher where he gets his meat from

pickle

Contains_Mild_Peril wrote:

Mine's falling to bits after several years of service (it was secondhand when I got it and I've used it and abused it for years), so I'm on the lookout too! I think Argos used to do them, not sure if they still do. I've never bought a brand new one, though. I'm on my 3rd secondhand shopping trolley since I got married and left my dad's house nearly 14 years ago.
Annoyingly, staff at my local Morrisons keep packing my stuff into plastic bags (heavy and squashy things in the same bag to make repacking more awkward) without asking, even when they can see I've got my trolley with me.
I reuse small carrier bags (e.g. Morrisons) as bin liners for waste paper bins (which in my house also get fruit peel and ashtray contents emptied into them, so liners are essential), and keep bigger ones (e.g. Farmfoods) for car boot sales and stuff.

I know they do that to me too, even when I've explicitly said not to. Now I just unpack the bags and hand them back. They soon stop packing them.

SusanCarter

deanos wrote:

Its best to have a word and ask your local butcher where he gets his meat from

I would if I had one. :mad:

se999

To get back to the first question on the thread as far as I know companies have legal requirements to act within the laws of the land they operate within and the also in compliance within any legislation, outside that unless they do that they are accountable (sometimes personally/criminally) to the shareholders for any misappropriation of funds. So unless the company is set up with a green agenda unless they have reasons they can't appropriate funds for green ideas. But if government legislates they have to do something within a country, they have to, even if it costs money!!

The best operation of local shops I saw was in the London suburbs. We had an open all hours type shop which price matched on wine, was open 365 days a year, and also sold home made onion bhajis, samosas etc that we can't find anywhere else.

The butchers was next to the station, all beef was Aberdeen Angus cross direct from Scotland, the price matched the supermarkets, the taste was better, is this good on food miles? But I do like supporting local shops. There was also a good fishmonger.

One thing I have seen that works, is the French policy of French is best, they specifically label produce as being French. They utilise the idea of the old idea of French as being the culinary top, even though they sell Delia & Jamie cookbooks in their shops. So maybe the carrot rather than the stick, the idea of British is 'best' & promoting regional produce might work with most consumers best

Travelling has made me realise how fortunate we are in England at the moment. We do have lots of eco options with the internet. The interplay between the supermarkets does help maintain standards/prices/quality currently. I'd like the world to be green too now. But a lot of the changes in the system like organic/fairtrade etc have been gradual consumer/politics led.