Cutting food waste by a quarter would mean enough for everyone, says UN
With the global population rising, wastage of products including 45 percent of all fruit and vegetables and 20 percent of meat is one of the greatest challenges to achieving food security. If the amount of food wasted around the world were reduced by just 25 percent there would be enough food to feed everyone on the planet, according to the UN. Each year 1.3 billion tonnes of food, about a third of all that is produced, is wasted. Meanwhile, 795 million people suffer from severe hunger and malnutrition. Well-publicised attempts to combat the loss of food – such as recent laws in France that require supermarkets to distribute unsold food to charities – have highlighted the issue of food waste, identified by the UN as one of the great challenges to achieving food security. (The Guardian)
‘We want to turn poo into gold’: how SMS is transforming Senegal’s sanitation
A pioneering SMS service and waste treatment system is dramatically bringing down sanitation costs in Senegal’s capital. If successful, it may lead to customers making a small profit from their excrement instead of paying someone to take it away. “We want to turn poo into gold; it’s not waste, but a raw material,” says Mbaye Mbeguere, from the Senegal National Sanitation Utility (ONAS). It’s a far cry from the current situation where, according to ONAS, 80 percent of people in Dakar use pit latrines. The high costs fixed by the pit emptiers’ association have driven many to seek cheaper alternatives, often at the expense of the environment and their own health. The text service – comparable to the Uber taxi app – has a database of 65,000 customers who send an SMS whenever they need their pits emptied. The computer sends out a tender to all the pit emptiers in the vicinity, triggering a bidding war. (The Guardian)
Corporate Reputation
Bic apologises for ‘sexist’ advert urging women to ‘think like a man’
Pen maker Bic has been forced to apologise after an online advert urging women to “think like a man” sparked a wave of anger. The company posted the image to its South African Facebook page to mark National Women’s Day, featuring a woman in suit next to text reading: “Look like a girl, act like a lady, think like a man, work like a boss.” The image sparked outrage when it was posted online. The post immediately drew criticism from people both within the country and from around the world for being sexist. Bic initially defended the image, saying the slogan was borrowed from a women’s business blog. But shortly afterwards the firm deleted the post and apologised. It is not the first time Bic has been accused of sexism, with the launch of a pink “for her” pen in 2012 slammed for promoting out-of-date stereotypes. (ITV)
Environment
Tony Abbott defends 2030 Australian emissions target criticised as ‘pathetically’ low
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott says his new emission reduction goal is in line with comparable countries and will cost the economy around $4 billion in 2030, but climate groups say it is “pathetically inadequate” and far less than Australia’s share of the cuts needed to stop global warming at 2⁰C. Abbott said the new target – to reduce emissions by 26 to 28 percent of 2005 levels by 2030 – was “foursquare in the middle” of the pledges comparable economies will take to the United Nations meeting in Paris in December. But conservationists said the target left Australia looking like a laggard – because measured on like-for-like basis, the US had promised cuts of around 41 percent by 2030, the European Union by around 34 percent based on 2005 levels and Canada of 30 percent. The average of developed nation emission reductions, using the 2005 base year, is about 36 percent by 2030. (The Guardian)
Employees
Pizza Express accused of taking slice of tips
UK campaigners have gathered at a Pizza Express branch to protest against an 8 percent administration fee the restaurant chain levies on staff tips paid by card. The Unite union has accused the chain of “pocketing a cool £1 million” from the practice, and claims many customers have been appalled to learn that gratuities are not being paid to waiters and backroom staff in full. Pizza Express claims the slice of the tips is used for managing a Tronc system “correctly and fairly”, and insists it does not make any profit from the practice. But Dave Turnbull, Unite’s officer for the food and drink sector, says the fee is still unfair – especially considering most Pizza Express staff receive the minimum wage of £6.50 an hour, and are “heavily reliant on tips simply to make ends meet”. (Sky News)
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