CELPIP Listening Part 6 Practice Test: Grocery Store Surplus

NARRATOR: Every evening, supermarkets face a quiet dilemma: what to do with day-old bread, bruised apples and yogurt that's approaching its best-before date. Much of it, remarkably, still ends up in the dumpster. Some European countries now oblige large grocers to hand such food over to charities, and a coalition of Canadian advocates argues it's time we did the same. The debate, it turns out, is less about whether such waste is wrong than about who should bear the cost of preventing it.

NARRATOR: Among the most vocal is Renata Szabo, who coordinates a network of community pantries in Winnipeg. She contends that voluntary programs, however well-intentioned, have proved hopelessly inconsistent. Some stores donate generously; others, citing liability worries or simple inconvenience, give nothing at all. A legal requirement, in her view, would level the playing field and reach families who currently depend on whichever store happens to be nearby. She also points out that this food has already been grown, packaged and trucked across the country. Throwing it away, she says, squanders not only groceries but the fuel, water and labour behind them.

NARRATOR: Martin Doyle, who owns three independent grocery stores in eastern Ontario, isn't convinced. He hardly disputes that the waste is scandalous, but argues that a blanket mandate ignores how unevenly the burden would fall. Large chains can afford refrigerated trucks and staff to sort donations; a small rural store cannot. Moreover, charities in many towns lack the freezer space to accept what's offered, so a law might simply move the dumpster from the grocer's parking lot to the food bank's. He'd rather see tax incentives that reward stores for giving, leaving each one to arrange whatever genuinely works locally.

NARRATOR: Szabo concedes that capacity is a legitimate concern, but regards it as an argument for investment, not for inaction. Mandates, she notes, tend to create the very infrastructure they require. Once donations become predictable, charities can plan, fundraise and expand accordingly, and a freezer, she adds dryly, costs far less than a landfill.

NARRATOR: Both arguments carry weight, and Doyle is right that a rule written for a big city could prove unworkable in a village with one store and no food bank. Yet voluntary incentives have been tried for years, and the dumpsters behind many supermarkets are still full. Perhaps the real question isn't whether to require donations, but how to phase in a requirement that small grocers can actually meet.