Thursday 12 November 2009

Hands Up If You're Guilty



£470 million is the value of wine poured down British sinks every year. Yes I did type wine, it's not an error.

The figure has been collated for the Waste and Resource Action Programme (Wrap) advisers to the Government, which is urging people to freeze leftover wine and use it in cooking sauces and casseroles as part of the campaign to cut the nation's footprint.

Now there are two issues here for me. Firstly how do these Wrap people measure this waste? Are people standing in sewers every evening catching samples?

Secondly, hasn't the government's message for the past year or so been we're all drinking too much? Now it seems we're pouring too much of the stuff down the drain. Certainly in this household it's never been known for good wine to be poured anywhere but down a throat - maybe that's somewhat unusual if Wraps figures are anything to go by.

The analysis also shows that the cost of waste food and liquid in the average household has risen to £50 a month, a significant increase on the £35 a month calculated in last year's report. Who throws £50 of food and drink away a month? I certainly don't know anyone with so little sense.

A Wrap director said, "We need to encourage people to use up leftover liquids in the same way as food. It is perfectly acceptable to freeze and reuse custard and soup."

We are actually paying these people to give this advice. I'll give some for free. Keep a spare litre of milk (preferably semi-skimmed) in the freezer for emergencies. It freezes well and can be defrosted in the microwave if necessary. I'm off to top up my glass.


15 comments:

Trident said...

Reminds me of the time that Delia advocated using some "leftover wine" in a recipe. I remember thinking "leftover wine! How out of touch is she?"

How do they actually measure the value of anything poured down anybody's sink anyhoo?

subrosa said...

That's what I was thinking polaris. A picture of men clad in wetsuits, clutching buckets and standing in sewers all over the country sprang to mind. :)

Apogee said...

Common sense is an uncommon commodity!

Just a thought though, does wine bottles have sell-by dates? A lot of good food is wasted through this nonsense.

D.

subrosa said...

Have never seen a sell-by date of a bottle of wine Apogee. Think box wines do have one though.

eric joyce said...

Re: Apogee. If it has a sell-by date, then you might not be drinking the right stuff!

subrosa said...

Well said Eric. Be warned Apogee!

Apogee said...

SR, eric.

Never thought to check it. And a single malt is ALWAYS the right stuff!At least that I do check! Can't be too careful.

D.

subrosa said...

Auch Apogee, your malt will be fine as long as the seal on the bottle wasn't broken when you bought it.

Strange how good whisky evaporates quickly once opened isn't it?

Conan the Librarian™ said...

Wine...poured down sinks...

How can people live like that?

Anonymous said...

Delia and left over wine.... nah.... never

subrosa said...

I can't imagine it either tris, neither could polaris I think.

moral_code said...

Maybe some of this is to actually clean the drains. Some of the plonk I used to buy, I wasn't sure whether to drink it or use it as a household cleaner.

subrosa said...

Aye, strange you should say that moral code. You've brought back a memory of years ago when I bought what I thought was a decent bottle of white. It was like diesel so I poured it down the toilet.

Not even a bottle of Domestos could have made such a sparkling job.

Nikostratos said...

The hard pounding of the snp cannons fall silent the fog of battle slowly clears to reveal.
The shining citadel of a Labour Glasgow North East glinting in the early morning sun..

the people of Glasgow North East have spoken
and with once voice they have cryed out......

FREEDOM! from the snp

subrosa said...

Morning Niko. And they say crime doesn't pay ...

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