Fifteenth International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic & Social Sustainability

Abstract

With ninety-six percent of food purchased in the UK passing through aisles in a basket or trolley, it is clear that supermarkets are the dominant interface between consumers and the food they buy. Supermarkets also dominate their supply chains, determining how their food is produced, processed, and moved. Competition between the UK’s leading supermarket chains has established a standard condition and expectation for low prices and year round choice on their shelves. This has driven supply chains further from the source of consumption and has led to over-consumption of non-renewable resources, increased production of C02 and greenhouse gases as well as issues of food insecurity and waste. Orchestrating the transportation of thousands of different food items across the world so that they all arrive in the supermarket delivery yard on time and in perfect condition is an incomprehensible feat. Most shoppers are oblivious to the hidden network of farms, container ports, distribution centres and climate controlled conveyance required to ensure that their favourite sliced white loaf and carton of semi-skimmed milk is waiting for them on a shelf every day, all year round. This paper identifies and unpacks a sample from a staple basket of goods to uncover the inter-modality of their physical and intangible spaces and flows. Through a process of measuring, mapping and drawing, the research asks how a particular food reaches the supermarket shelf and the environmental implications of it being there. In this visual unpacking, propositions for achieving a more sustainable basket are imagined.