I think you hit the nail on the head, pointsgirl. Perhaps the bakery was concerned about lawsuits. I wonder if a bakery or a cruise ship were to donate excess food to shelters or other non profit groups would they be held liable if someone who ate the food were to have gotten ill? Perhaps the risk of lawsuits and the heavy damages trial lawyers go after remove all incentives for businesses to do the right thing concerning food donations. Just a thought.


[This message has been edited by Analise (edited 03-22-2002).]

In Europe the industry that recycled restaurants leftovers into animal feed (by turning it into a foul-smelling but nutritious goop) was broadsided by new regulations restricting the practice after the mad cow/scrapie scare.

And where did I just read that South Korea threw out more food last year than produced in one year in North Korea?

There is waste all over the world. From a logistics point of view, the easiest way to minimize waste is to match supply to demand, and optimize packaging (in the present case, this would mean smaller and more TP rolls if going the 'new' route; to reduce TP consumption, installing those very effective Japanese toilets with cleaning function).
In my experience, this is hardest to implement with private households (tried to no avail with family), and easiest with large-scale entities with predicable needs (school cafeteria with fixed menus, chemical factory with one product, etc.)

Presumably a resort, catering to affluent individuals on vacation, would have a hard time predicting demand, and have to keep a large inventory of partially perishable goods.


Getting back to the economic argument, there is a distinction between economically viable and environmentally responsible. German carmakers have pledged to take back and recycle their used vehicles; surely they are not making � from this, but I laud them for not sending more non-renewable resources to the landfill.

My sister & brother-in-law own a bread bakery & they always donate their leftover bread every night. They bake fresh everyday & if they overestimate their needs sometimes there is a lot of bread being donated & I'm sure they don't worry about someone geting sick anymore than they worry about someone who buys the bread getting sick.

I used to work for an eccomerce in 2000 when every company was worth tens of millions of dollars. This company would have their rolls thrown out everyday it was crazy. Some employees were furious.

You are correct that used to be the reason why businesses did not donate goods. Now, almost all states have laws protecting businesses from the lawsuits you speak to.

I think there is much less waste of foodl on a cruise ship then you would think. Wednesday night the dining room may be serving prime rib, the next day beef stew at the buffet, then beef something soup the next day. I think anything they don't serve just keeps getting used and used until it's all gone, that very little of it goes to waste. Once the fruit starts looking a bit tattered (not saying it's spoiled, just looking a bit old) it gets cooked into the tarts and other desserts. If you are at the end of a two week cruise where they don't add fruit at every port (asy on the last few days of the southbound in Alaska) you will notice the more easily ruined vegetables and fruits aren't available anymore, but all of a sudden the buffet will be full of Banana Cream Pies.

That was very interesting, Cordelli. Thanks for including that.

That is good to know. It was such a waste to see all that food go into the trash.

Call me a wasteful American if you must, but usually better hotels have a second roll of toilet paper (as a spare) in the bathroom and I generally open it up and use it.

Having lived in SE Asia, believe me, I'm no hygiene freak, but at the same time, if I'm paying for a nice hotel room -- I want my own roll of TP.

I have no problem with a partially-used roll, but I always remove at least one or 2 go-rounds from the outside before I will start using it.

With regard to food waste, in my community I know of two volunteer organizations that collect all the day-old bakery products from grocers and other markets as well as produce that's on the edge to distribute to seniors and low-income single parents.

Well, that is probably very common. I know I do this in public restrooms.

While I cring at the thought of referring to a half empty roll as used TP, I would hope that most people could tell the difference between clean TP and not clean. If the roll has been used by a previous guest and there is no evidence of prior guest placing the soiled paper back on the roll, why not simply do as several other posters have suggested and tear off a few sheets and go on about your business. I'd much rather see the time hotels spend replacing TP rolls be spent cleaning the previous guests hairs off the bathroom floor. But that's another topic altogether.

As long as the staff did the little "V" fold on a partiall used roll - I would not care.

Although, I know peoiple expect more from luxury hotels. Perhaps someone could invent a "reroller" to cutdown on the obvious waste of good rolls.

That is what I was saying. I do not care if there is a half empty roll of TP in the hotel room. I was simply saying that when I go into a public restroom I always...ALWAYS...remove some of the sheets before I use it.