January 2009 Archives

How do you think that the twin challenges of peak oil and climate change might affect you one day?

In case you are not aware of TRANSITION BIRMINGHAM, or have yet to get engaged with the group, try to get to the Town Hall next week (Mon/Tues/Wed).

Transition Birmingham will have a significant presence at the "Changing Lifestyles" event, including two sessions with Transition Towns founder Rob Hopkins, the first is on Tuesday 3rd at 7 p.m. when he will be a panellist in a Green Dragon's Den.

On WEDNESDAY 4 FEBRUARY, 10.00-12.00am, Rob Hopkins will give a talk: "How your local neighbourhood can envision and create a brighter future without oil", a chance to ask questions and discuss your burning issues will follow.

I am disappointed that pedal power has an almost non-existent profile in both Transition publications and at this "Changing Lifestyles" event.

Under the heading "Fuel" in the "Changing Lifestyles" programme we read:

> "Have you seen the hydrogen powered boat from Birmingham University - well it will be on our city canals during Changing Lifestyles.

> And at the Town Hall will be other sustainable fuel vehicles including high powered electric bikes.

> There's also the opportunity to find out how your waste vegetable oil can power your car."

> - ^ - an omission - I hoped to read about changing the fuel in your new lifestyle to chocolate, to give you real pleasure as well as an energy boost if you have a head wind when cycling home.

Perhaps next year? Local chocolate maker, please sign up.

I have found out a lot more about "use by" dates, plus other aspects of food safety legislation - which is separate from health and safety legislation. As I suspected, a large proportion of the food that people regularly throw away is fit to eat.

"Use by" date labels are the only labels that are legally binding: it is an offence to sell items once that date has passed. "Use by" date labels are required on processed items that are highly perishable and require refrigeration. Using these foods after the "use by" date could put your health at risk.

Other food items have a longer shelf life, and will not support dangerous bacterial growth, though their quality will deteriorate over time. These items should have "best before" date labels, after which it is usual, but not legally required, to reduce their price. Almost all items which are past their "best before" date are perfectly good to eat, provided that they have been stored according to the instructions on the label. Eventually these items may lose their flavour, or become a bit dry, but they will not hurt you. The one exception is fresh eggs, as there is a risk of salmonella poisoning from uncooked eggs past this date.

"Display until" dates, which replaced "sell by" dates in 1995, are used by shops for stock control. Neither have anything to do with food safety; the "use by" and "best before" dates are the ones we need to check.

Please check this out on the Food Standards Agency website. This also states "About a third of the food we buy ends up being thrown away and most of this could have been eaten. So think carefully before throwing away food that is past its 'best before' date."

I am still trying to find out how much food is thrown away by shops before we buy it, but I have failed to get reliable information about this. I was told by a customer relations person from the supermarket mentioned in my last posting, that no food past the "use by" and "best before" dates is destroyed, it is all given to a charity for immediate consumption. I told him that my experience in Moseley contradicted this. I have now found out that a Birmingham charity does collect food each day from larger Birmingham supermarkets, along with other items such as flowers.

Both major supermarkets in Moseley have confirmed that out of date food is destroyed. If anyone could give me details, in the "comments" spot, of a charity in or near Moseley that would make good use of food that is out of date, but perfectly good, I will try to make this happen.

I have frequently joined demonstrations which aim to publicise injustice of many kinds, but I have never (yet) taken part in "direct action", where a demonstration includes breaking the law. However I was tempted recently and, if the opportunity occurs again, I hope that I will act in line with my conscience, and not with the law.

Some foods have "use by" dates, after which items cannot be sold. I had some red peppers (without a blemish on them) removed from my shopping basket at a local supermarket till and was told that it was company policy that they must be thrown away. I asked where the skip was, so that I could rescue them. The cashier told me that their skips were enclosed to prevent people from collecting discarded items.

These red peppers, along with other foods legally considered to be unfit for human consumption, went to landfill to add greenhouse gases to the atmosphere instead of providing energy, and pleasure, to our household in a casserole. If this happens again I will snatch the item back and wait to be arrested for theft, and make a quick phone call to the Birmingham Mail.

Can someone explain to me the health and safety justification for "use by" dates? Apart from the waste caused by the ban on selling goods past this date, "use by" dates appear to me to make the company that packages and stamps goods a bit vulnerable. "Sell by" dates give the responsibility for the item to the purchaser after the point of sale, but "use by" dates extend the responsibility of the seller, which is why their policy destroys a huge weight of good food.

There may be some justification in suggesting "use by" dates for animal products, but unless these items are clearly labelled to state that the item must be stored in a cool place within a stated time after purchase, the "use by" date cannot be reliable.

There is good news at the end of this story: I picked up a loaf in a shop in Moseley, Indigo Wholefoods this week. It had been reduced to half price but seemed OK to me. The "use by" date was checked and had passed so, again, I was told that it could not be sold. This time I was told that I was welcome to take it. I did.

According to Birmingham Friends of the Earth, we create an average extra 50 kg of waste per person during the festive period - Birmingham City Council collects and disposes of this additional 500,000 tonnes of refuse.

Let's reflect and consider if the pleasure we received from this indulgence was so great that we don't care about the side effects.

If we are hesitant to agree that all our expenditure, both in cash and in time, was worthwhile, it is worth noting now what we might do differently next year. Make sure that the note is put where it will be noticed, as a reminder, before you start planning your purchases and festive treats this year.

It may be difficult to break away from accepted traditions but it is worth the effort. Alternative, more sustainable activities and purchases can give much more pleasure. If you have some advice to pass on, please write a comment.

We broke away from traditions many years ago by escaping with one of our sons to Paris. He has now moved to Brazil, so the option of a short holiday with him this year was out of the question. We stayed in Birmingham and enjoyed ourselves without any expectations and/or demands from others. Our family gathering (six adults, two children and a dog) started on Boxing Day instead, without most of the seasonal trimmings, and with all of the seasonal spirit of peace and goodwill, sharing memories and plans for the future, and having fun.

Our seasonal cards and letters are now in a pile ready for sorting out and recycling, and our mistletoe (from Freecycle) is ready to be composted. We didn't produce any extra "waste". Leftover food was recreated into different dishes or frozen and there was a little extra paper for recycling.

I have received two very different comments about recycling:

• the first was supportive and asked a few questions;


• the second, was negative and said it is a waste of time.

• stop buying things that we won't make good use of;


• we should give items to Freecycle, and search Freecycle for things we want as well;


• we should re-use glass jars and plastic containers and


• we should repair items to extend their useful life when we can.

Recycling is the last but one resort. However, if the only way you can recycle your waste paper, bottles and cans is to drive out of your way to a recycling depot, then it is better to put them in your dustbin.

For those of us with a doorstep collection or a convenient recycling depot, who have surplus items that can't be reused or repaired, recycling is better than sending them to landfill or even to an "energy-from-waste" plant, such as Tyseley in Birmingham.

Collecting cans from the street may be a bit eccentric, but I don't think it is a waste of time as it only takes a few seconds - and the energy saved from recycling one drinks can, rather than using new aluminium, will provide three hours electricity for a TV. That sounds like a pretty good return on an investment to me.

I have also heard myths about the contents of our recycling boxes being sent to China and ending up in landfill etc etc. The truth, in Birmingham at any rate, is rather different. Jeremy Shields, who is in charge of Waste Management for the City Council, provided the information in my RECYCLE post:

"Paper and card from Birmingham's blue box collection is processed for re-use within Birmingham (in Nechells), and the tins, cans and bottles from Birmingham's green box collection is currently taken to a "Materials Recovery Facility" in Essex, but not for much longer as a new MRF will soon be opened in Wolverhampton."

The use of the "recovered" material is not necessarily reuse in the same form. For instance, glass collected from recycling boxes may be used as hardcore for road improvements. Glass taken to colour separated bottle banks has more value. Clear glass, and at times coloured glass, is taken to kilns to be remade into glass. However the Green Box collections have resulted in an additional 10,000 tons of glass being recycled from the city.

In Birmingham, when Tyseley is operating normally, a very small fraction of waste, mainly material unsuitable for energy recovery, goes to landfill. This includes all the glass that was not put in green boxes or bottle banks.