英國樂購被指爲降成本用快餐車運垃圾大綱

Tesco is using its food delivery lorries to pick up rubbish from stores in an attempt to cut costs.

據英國《衛報》報道，英國零售連鎖公司樂購（Tesco）爲了降低成本，用送食品的車運超市垃圾。

The UK's largest retailer has stopped using waste contractors to pick up and dispose of general rubbish, including unsold food, from its 600 largest supermarkets. Instead, bags of waste are piled into metal wheeled cages lined with clear plastic. These cages are picked up by the same trucks that deliver food to the stores once they have emptied their load. The trucks drop off the rubbish at a waste centre before returning to Tesco's distribution centres to pick up more groceries and food to start the cycle again.

這家英國最大的零售商不再使用垃圾承包商從其600家大型超市裏收取和處理日常垃圾（包括未售出的食物）了。所有的垃圾都打成包，堆放在有金屬輪式的籠子中，並用透明膠帶挷住。食品車把食品送到商店之後，在清空後把這些籠子裝上，運到垃圾處理中心倒掉，然後再返回樂購配送中心取新貨物，如此周而復始。

A Tesco spokeswoman said the system, which does not involve the smaller vans that make home deliveries to customers, was more environmentally friendly. "We have recently introduced a new way of managing waste in some of our stores, which will remove 20,000 additional trips a year and reduce our carbon emissions by 4.5 tonnes a year."

樂購的一名女發言人稱，這個制度不會使用給消費者送貨上門的小貨車，更爲環保。“近來，我們在一些商店中使用了一種處理垃圾的新方法，每年會減少兩萬次額外運輸、減少4.5噸碳排放量。”

The spokeswoman insisted there was no risk to food hygiene: "We have high standards of hygiene and food safety, and we require all vehicles to be inspected and cleared after every trip, with additional cleaning if required, alongside regular deep cleans."

她堅稱，食品衛生不會受到影響，“我們有很高的食品衛生和安全標準，而且規定每次運輸後，所有的貨車都要進行檢查和清洗。如果需要，還會進行額外清理，並會定期徹底清理。”

However, notices posted at Tesco's recycling centre, seen by the Guardian, suggest only a quarter of the delivery fleet is sanitised or washed each week, although any driver is able to request a wash for his lorry if he feels it necessary.

但是，《衛報》從樂購回收中心裏張貼的通知上看到，每週只有四分之一的貨車經過了消毒或清洗，儘管司機在覺得有必要時可以要求清洗。

One source close to the process said the thin plastic used to line the cages that transport bin bags was easily damaged so that liquid from putrefying rubbish could spill on to the floor of lorries. Meanwhile store staff sometimes did not have time to sort or wrap the rubbish adequately.

據知情人士透露，捆綁運送垃圾袋的籠子用的塑料膠條很薄，容易損壞，因此，腐爛的垃圾中的液體會灑在車廂裏。同時，商店工作人員有時沒有時間能充分地分類或打包垃圾。

The source said there was not the time or resources to wash every trailer after each collection of general waste. With hundreds of Tesco stores around the country, some lorries can do several deliveries a day.

該知情人士稱，每次收集垃圾後，沒有時間和物力去清洗每輛車。英國有數百家樂購商店，有些貨車一天能運送好幾次貨物。

"I know they can't live up to the expectation of any reasonable customer," he said. "It's penny pinching and it's going to blow up because when it gets hot that smell is going to magnify 10-fold," said the source.

“我知道他們不能達到顧客的合理期待。”他說，“這樣做很小氣，而且會臭不可聞，因爲當天熱的時候，臭味會增加十倍。”

The source said, however, that food would never touch the floor of the delivery trailer because it is packaged and transported within wheeled cages.

不過，該知情人士稱，食物不會碰到車廂地板，因爲它們是包裹起來並裝在帶有輪子的籠子裏的。

Legally, all vehicles and containers used for transporting food must be kept clean and well-maintained to ensure food is not contaminated.

根據法律規定，所有運輸食物的車輛和容器都必須保持清潔和完好，以確保食物不受污染。

A spokesperson for the Food Standards Agency said: "The law is clear. where non-food products are carried there must be suitable cleaning before foods are carried. Receptacles or containers used to transport food cannot be used to transport anything else where this might lead to contamination."

英國食品標準署的發言人說：“法律是明確的。在運送非食品貨物之後，要進行適當清理，才能繼續運送食物。運送食物的容器不能用來運送其他任何東西，否則會造成食品污染。”

It is not uncommon for supermarkets to transport dry waste, such as cardboard or plastic, from stores to recycling centres in empty grocery delivery lorries. The process is called backfilling and saves both money and fuel, so is seen as environmentally friendly.

超市用空貨車把乾燥的垃圾（如硬紙板或塑料）送往回收中心是常事。這一過程被稱爲回填，可以節省金錢和時間，也很環保。

Only one other supermarket – Sainsbury's – backfills with general waste and under its system bin bags are put into large plastic crates that are washed each time before reuse. A spokesperson said: "We never have waste or recyclate on board our delivery lorries at the same time as products for sale in our stores."

只有一家超市，塞恩斯伯裏超市（Sainsbury's）每次在回填前都把裝垃圾的大塑料框清洗乾淨。該公司發言人說：“我們從不在運商品的同時運送垃圾。”

Marks & Spencer backfills its food trucks with food waste, but this is stored in specially designed large cardboard boxes lined with a heavy plastic.

馬莎百貨（Marks & Spencer）雖然把垃圾回填上車，但是垃圾是放在專門設計的、襯有結實塑料膜的大紙箱中的。

Asda, Morrisons and Waitrose all said they never transport general waste in their food lorries.

阿斯達（Asda）、莫里森（Morrisons）和維特羅斯（Waitrose）都稱自己從來沒有用運食物的車運過垃圾。

Neal Austin, Morrisons' logistics and supply chain director, said: "Technically, we would have a concern about the risk of contamination given the closed environment within the trailers. More importantly, we don't believe our customers would feel comfortable knowing that the fresh food they were eating had been delivered in a lorry that a few hours earlier had been carrying waste food products."

莫里森公司（Morrisons）的物流與供應鏈主管尼爾?奧斯汀說：“從技術上來看，我們擔心貨車的封閉空間很容易弄髒食物。更重要的是，顧客如果得知，運送他們食物的貨車就在幾小時前裝過垃圾的話，肯定會不舒服的。”