German supermarkets are better for the planet than American supermarkets?
Here’s what I’m thinking, let me know down in the comments what you’re thinking.
Hey everyone, Dana here!
When I went into my research for this section of the video I wanted to find out how much
food grocery stores throw away in the USA and Germany.
That’s what I was searching for online in German and English.
How much food is “thrown away,” “weggeworfen” in German.
However, I wasn’t able to find that.
The studies that I did find, all described how much food is quote-unquote
“lost” by grocery stores in the USA and Germany. In German the Verlustraten. Which I think is interesting.
From reading further on the topic it really sounds to me like what is meant with these
numbers is, in fact, how much food is thrown away.
You know, it’s mentioned that supermarkets “lose” a lot of food because customers
expect the food to look too perfect, or they “lose” a lot of food due to the food going
past the sell-by dates, and so on.
And, yeah, to me that sounds like the grocery stores are throwing away that food.
But it’s apparently called “losing” that food.
Which, I mean, to me, “losing” sounds like you don’t know where something is.
Like I lost my keys, I don’t know where they are.
Versus I threw away my keys.
I know where they are, I threw them away.
Two different things in my mind.
So I think it’s weird for both Germany and the USA to phrase it that way.
But okay, anyway so, who “loses” more food?
Grocery stores in the USA or grocery stores in Germany.
Grocery stores in the USA by a lot.
I’ll link to my sources down in the description below, but what I could find, the grocery
stores in the U.S. “lose” approximately 10 percent of their food every year, while
the study I found on Germany says that grocery markets...grocery markets.
That's grocery stores and supermarkets.
While the study I found on Germany says that German supermarkets “lose” about 1.1 percent
of food each year.
Pretty big difference there.
While doing my research I also found that the Center for Biological Diversity and the
“Ugly” Fruit and Veg Campaign looked into how 10 supermarkets in the U.S. handle food
and waste and then gave each store a grade.
And I gotta say, these grades weren’t very inspiring either.
The grade given was not based just on how much food is thrown away, but rather food
waste accountability, prevention, and recovery and recycling.
And I will link to that info down below as well.
But yeah, spoiler alert: no store got an A. But perhaps relevant for this video in particular,
the supermarket chain in the U.S. that got an F grade is a supermarket with its headquarters
in Germany.
Soooo…. Yeah.
When I talk to Germans about what shocked them the most the first time that they went
to the U.S. one thing that I hear coming up over and over and over again is how many different
kinds of one food you can find at American supermarkets.
So as an example -- I see Stefan behind the camera, by the way, shaking his head yes
as I was saying that. He was like yeah, exactly.
So, as an example, cream cheese.
In the U.S. in most stores you've got lots and lots of different kinds of cream cheese.
In Germany, you can find some different cream cheeses, or like, for example, chips.
In America you've often got lots and lots of different kinds of chips.
And in Germany, again, there is a pretty good variety when it comes to chip options.
But not as big of a variety as in the U.S.
So what is better for the planet?
Well, sticking with the cream cheese example here for a moment, off the top of my head
I can imagine that you would probably need a separate production line for each different
variety of cream cheese, right?
I mean, I don't make cream cheeses, but it just seems that way.
And, you know, you've got different packaging.
But how much extra energy does that actually use?
I don't know. What is your take on on it?
Do you think that it makes a difference to produce just a couple cream cheese varieties
versus producing lots of different kinds of cream cheeses?
I mean, perhaps if there are lots of cream cheese options that could lead to people buying
more cream cheese overall because they're like, oh oh, there's all these different kinds
of cream cheese, I want to try all the different flavors.
Yeah, let me know what you think down in the comments.
One instance, though, where I think variety could come in handy is size.
The U.S. often gets called out for having huge sizes for stuff, and that is true.
In grocery stores in the U.S. you can buy huge bags of chips and huge sodas and huge
other things. But I also recall seeing more smaller options too.
So just basically more size options in the U.S. ranging from small to big.
Whereas in Germany, for example, I don’t think I've ever seen, like, single portion
potato chip bags in the store in Germany.
Whereas in the U.S. that’s pretty common.
You can buy, like, just single portion potato chip bags.
But again, I'm not sure how much of a difference this makes?
If I can buy a smaller bag of potato chips, and then because I only want a few potato
chips, so I buy that smaller bag.
I don't know, let me know your thoughts down in the comments.
In the U.S. there are a lot more grocery stores that are open 24/7 and most grocery stores
are open 7 days a week.
Whereas in Germany, now that I think about it, I don’t know if there are any grocery
stores in Germany that are open all night and all day.
And I’m not talking about Spätis here.
I'm talking about, like, "real" full supermarkets.
Please let me know down in the comments, are there any German supermarkets that are open 24/7?
And stores in Germany are closed on Sunday.
So this means less time with the lights on, less time with the heating or cooling on full blast.
It definitely seems to me like it would be more efficient energy-wise to run a grocery
store less hours over all.
Maybe not as convenient for the shoppers, you know. You can't go grocery shopping at 2 in the morning.
But I would say definitely seems more efficient energy-wise.
But yeah, again, let me know your thoughts down in the comments.
I have talked about it before in I think several videos at this point.
Oh, how I struggle with the bagging speed in German supermarkets.
But it is not the speed that we’re talking about here in this video, but rather the bags.
In the U.S. in many places paper and plastic bags are offered for free.
In some places and states in the U.S., they have started charging for bags and/or getting
rid of plastic bags all together.
Let me know down in the comments if you live somewhere in the U.S. that is doing that.
But in most of the U.S. I would say bags are still free, whereas in Germany bags are not
free and they are not just offered up by the cashiers.
It’s your job as the shopper to grab a bag if you need one, and it’s very common for
lots of people to bring bags with them to the grocery store.
Which I would say is obviously better for the environment, right?
I mean, bringing the same bag with you every time you go shopping, rather than getting
a brand new bag every time you go to the grocery store.
In Germany most plastic and glass bottles have a deposit fee called Pfand.
So you pay a little extra when you buy the drink and then that is the incentive for you
to bring the bottle back and recycle it once you’re done with it to get the deposit back.
In the U.S. some states do have a deposit like this, but as far as I know most places
in the U.S. don’t.
What are your thoughts on Pfand?
If you live in a place with a deposit like this, does it encourage you to recycle more?
If you live somewhere without it, do you think you would recycle more if it existed?
Let me know down in the comments.
So my question for you is: What do you think we can do to make grocery stores in the U.S.,
Germany, and around the world better for our planet?
What have you seen grocery stores doing that you like?
Please let me know in the comments below.
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