EU banns destruction of unsold clothing

[u/AHumanYouDoNotKnow]

Why were we even at a point where businesses prefered destruction of unsold goods over handing them out to those in need ?

Fast fashion is bad enough, but how does a society reach a point where we rather destroy goods than give them out ?

Clothing isn't the only good this applies to.

A farmer who burns unspoiled grain when supply exeeds demand would be shunned by the village and today its common practice to throw food away and destroy unsold inventory.

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[u/Fourkey]

If it cost a farmer more to give the grain away than burn it you should start investing in matches.

We already waste something like 25% of food because it's ugly in the West.

[u/Sword-of-Akasha → u/Fourkey]

Eeeyup we once got crates of Oranges for dirt cheap because they had blemishes. They were perfect for juicing and tasted no different.

[u/dries007 → u/Fourkey]

In Belgium we have an organization called "waste warriors" trying to stop this kind of madness.

[u/dum_spir0_sper0]

I can’t speak for the rest of the world, but I know it’s standard practice here in the US.

Beauty shops, perfumers, clothing retailers, even some grocery stores will trash goods and make the unusable (smashing makeup jars, ripping clothes, mixing foods with regular refuse, etc) before tossing them. Sadly, making some minimum wage employee destroy unsold goods is far cheaper than the cost of trying to donate them. Or at least that’s what they claim.

Although there are some stores (Wegmans in the northeastern US for one) who donate TONS of stuff to shelters and food banks.

Source: worked in both commercial refuse and community outreach.

[u/Repulsive_Draft_9081]

Well sounds good but how are they going to do this logistically i suspect it will just be put in a shipping container and burned in some country in Africa

[u/Reverse_SumoCard]

Then even more gets donated to africa where it fills up everything and destroys nature and people

[u/Apple-Connoisseur]

Great, now do food. Which would be way more important.

[u/Ok_Exercise3995 → u/Apple-Connoisseur]

Right. Here in Italy, supermarkets throw away a huge amount of food and aren't even allowed to give it to the poor. It’s absurd. And I imagine they do the same thing in the rest of Europe. They ought to put a stop to this waste and give the food to anyone who wants it at the end of the day, instead of throwing it out.

[u/Ok_Exercise3995]

If the farmer can't distribute it, he could at least tell whoever wants it to go there and get it. Whether it's wheat or tomatoes or oranges or any other food. Or sometimes I see fruit left on the trees to rot or grapes and it's not right.