Three charged with stealing food from skip

[joe_bloggs*]

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jan/28/three-charged-vagrancy-act-food-skip-iceland

"A man will stand trial next month after being caught taking some tomatoes, mushrooms and cheese from the dustbins behind a branch of Iceland."

"The case will require magistrates to scrutinise the phenomenon of "skipping" – taking discarded supermarket waste to cook and eat, and will highlight the issue of how much supermarket food is discarded, despite long campaigns to reduce the waste. It will also focus attention on a group of people taking radical steps to feed themselves as they struggle with the rising cost of living in London."

Initially arrested for burglary, the three men were charged under an obscure section of the 1824 Vagrancy Act, after being discovered in "an enclosed area, namely Iceland, for an unlawful purpose, namely stealing food".

Police returned the items to the Iceland store. The men were held in a police cell for 19 hours before being released, May said.

Lawyers for the three men have asked the Crown Prosecution Service to consider dropping the case, but the CPS responded this month that the case would go ahead, because "we feel there is significant public interest in prosecuting these three individuals".

In the public interest? Wonder how much all this is costing,suppose it will be up to a jury if it gets that far

[electric*mayhem*band]

'1824 Vagrancy Act'.

*despairs*

[Anonymous]

Ridiculous!!!!!

[al**bear]

Some supermarkets  use a liquid to pour over discarded food, it discolours it and has a slightly unpleasant smell, I watched the Manager of one of our local supermarkets doing it

[5129frederick]

You could say:  it BEGGERS BELIEF!   smileylol:   

[lhasa.two]

It's much more in the " significant public interest" to hi light yet again the obscene amount of waste that supermarkets manage to accrue and discard every day, not prosecute street people who don't have money to pay inflated food prices because of supermarket buyers over ordering too much food they are unlikely to sell.

It's just another example of our wasteful society and then prosecuting the poorest people for being hungry! 

Why don't supermarkets set up an hour for people to legally come and collect the food that's put out as waste at the rear of their stores so that goods can be removed legally, instead of these draconian laws being resurrected to punish people for taking it.

.   

[cee-dee]

The reason the supermarkets don't allow people to scavenge is because after a while, it becomes "known" and hoards of scavengers would turn up, some would not be needy people, just greedy people.

There'd be "trouble", arguments, fights and possible damage.

[kiss*my*pixel]

That's a good idea, Mrs S! I thought that a lot of supermarkets already set aside their excess food and donated it all to homeless charities.

This is a ridiculous charge - if it's in a skip, then Iceland clearly didn't want it any more. If someone comes along and is able to make use of it, then that's a good thing, surely?

We had an excess of cooking apples this year, and put crates of them at the front of our house with a notice for people to help themselves. All sorts of people did, friends, neighbours, postie, courier drivers. I was so pleased that the apples weren't going to waste, someone was able to (and did!) use them. Excellent!!!! Got lots of nice comments from the recipients. Fuzzy feeling :0)

Maybe this is what the supermarkets should be thinking

Shame on you, Iceland, if you think it right to bring a prosecution against someone taking something you had discarded and no longer wanted.

They are actually doing you a favour - it costs money to hire a skip - by taking stuff out of it, the life of the skip is prolonged????

I lived in Germany in the 80's - their recycling policy was excellent then (clearly better than ours is now - 30 years later). One of the things I found absolutely great was that every six months or so you could put out all your household waste - saucepans, crockery, mattresses, bedding, towels,  and so forth. Anybody could come along and help themselves to it. Now THAT is recycling.

[kiss*my*pixel]

Cee-Dee - how many "greedy" people would think it okay to" scavenge"? Would you do it? Would I? Probably not, it would usually be people who are actually hungry, or maybe just not wanting to see food go to waste. And what is wrong with that?

As Mrs S says - maybe it would be better to set aside an hour or so a day to allow people to buy cheaply, or obtain, somehow, the groceries that would otherswise end up in a skip. OR, donate to homeless charities. Most fresh food, having reached it's its expiry date, can be turned into a hearty meal. Far better than ending up in landfill, surely?

[cee-dee]

No, I certainly would not scavenge.

The Law here is that taking anything out of a skip is theft no matter what the circumstances and entering private property to do so is also trespass.

We don't condone "dumpster diving" in this country.

If it became known that "good food" was to be had from supermarket skips and that a blind eye was turned to the practice, after a while you'd have the unscrupulous turning up hauling away as much as they could and either selling it or using it in the less reputable take-away outlets....

[saasher2012]

Unfortunately although I agree with what you say, some people would seize the opportunity to take & sell the produce thereby spoiling it for the many who really do need it to live on! Sorry you beat me to it C D.

[kiss*my*pixel]

Not if it was properly managed.

Better than food banks, I think, where people actually do exploit the system.

[kiss*my*pixel]

No Saasher - as I said, it would need to be properly managed! It would not enter the equation that someone could "haul away" vast amounts for resale on the black market.

Just think about it sensibly.

Homeless charities could benefit - you could make all sorts of nutritious meals from the waste food products thrown away by supermarkets. Who in their right mind would contaminate good food with a substance that makes it unusable. Sheer madness!! Stuff that ends up in landfill could potentially feed hungry people. I really don't understand what the problem is.

Those supermarkets need a kick up the backside. You can't use it, so do some good with it. It's a no-brainer, IMHO!!

[saasher2012]

I agree but in the end it comes down to money, sad fact but true unfortunately .

[5129frederick]

If too much stuff goes into the skip the Government start sending the companies Ho Hum-type letters and the head office also start breathing down their neck.  This is why you'll invariable get these "super, fantastic offers" on the buy-one-get-one-free line.  It is because the management have miscalculated and have to get rid of perishable items at any price.  Space is at a premium.  If they can con the public into buying two for the price of one and a third of each packet is on the turn, the onus is on the person who walks out of the shop with it - it's no longer their problem.  It's something that drives me mad - there's no such thing as a free lunck.  That's why I go mad when we come home loaded with "special offers" and are then forced to gorge ourselves on apples and God knows what else before the sell by date.

[daffodiltulip]

I can't see why they can't price items at rock bottom prices on the last day - this way staff won't have to spend time clearing the shelves and taking it outside.  The other day, Waitrose had some packs of pork cubes with a sachet of sauce priced at 10pence!

The main problem I found with the ultimate reductions in the couple of usual supermarkets I use, is that they wait until about a minute or two before closing to put these giveaway prices on!  By then, most people have already entered and are nearly done, not to mention intimidated by the message "we will be closing tills in five/ten minutes" - it isn't managed very well, is it?  Once, they had a staff member walk along the queues offering free bread - people were already queueing as they didn't want to risk the tills closing at that point, had already bought what they needed and I suspect many didn't accept they offer due to embarrassment at that point.  It would have been so easy just to price them at 10p or whatever, 15-30 minutes before.

[ecclesvinaigrette]

No supermarket goes out of its way to produce waste, many dispose of short dated stock through charitable concerns and with fresh produce Zoos. Advances in packaging also help, modified atmosphere packaging was, until recently the favoured method, now it is shrink wrapping which extends the life of meat products by two days or more. There is also an obsession with use by dates which prevent perfectly edible food from being sold and consumed.

[cee-dee]

It's Oxygen which causes foods to "go off" which is why some have the Oxygen replaced with Nitrogen (gas).

[kiss*my*pixel]

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@saasher2012 wrote:
I agree but in the end it comes down to money, sad fact but true unfortunately .

---

In what way, exactly?

Sorry,Saasher, but I seem to be missing your point. How does it cost money to donate foodstuff, or allow it to be taken from a skip, free of charge?

[duck_a_lorange]

The police were being good neighbours, apparently:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-25945052

In a statement, Iceland said: "The store in question is next door to a police station. Iceland staff did not call the police, who attended on their own initiative.

"Nor did we instigate the resulting prosecution, of which we had no knowledge until the media reports of it appeared yesterday evening.

"We are currently trying to find out from the Crown Prosecution Service why they believe that it is in the public interest to pursue a case against these three individuals, and will comment further when we are more fully informed."