Ask the guys doing the culling. I have turned many a grocery shopping trip into a compostable score, much to the Chagrin of my wife, who just walks away when I approach the hapless worker with my proposal.
Corn, Strawberry, bad bananas etc 2 -3 banana boxes full per haul. Just ask in person and explain that it is not to eat but to save it from the landfill and make a useful soil amendment with. After a while they recognize you coming. Much like the starbucks situation, you are saving them a trip to the dumpster if you take all the "waste" they have.

I have had this problem locally with the big chains. Walmart and Publix refused to let me take the spoiled items regardless of their purpose. Citing rules/liability issues they said they are required to throw it away. I asked a Walmart manager and was told this and I asked the produce worker at Publix while he was culling spoiled veggies and he told me the same thing.

I've given up asking big stores like those. I have better luck with mom & pop places and produce stands. It makes me sick when rules and regulations take precedence over common sense. What a waste.

Danielle

Esther I just realized who you were from the Georgia forum. I hate that there's so much resistance to this proposition in our neck of the woods. Maybe if we had a sanitation permit it wouldn't be a problem lol.

I'm gonna' try to research the regulations further and see if this is just the company's rule or if it is in fact a government regulation.

Danielle

Good luck. I've met a lot of resistance trying to do the same thing. Most people don't give a hoot what you're trying to do. One time I was beat out by a pig farmer who fed the scraps to his livestock.

Most people are trying to cover their butts, but who is really going to report someone hauling away fruit and veggie scraps for composting. If you live in a semi metro area, wait for the days that people throw out their yard scraps for curbside pickup. You can get truck loads full of chopped grass and leaf clippings.

Best bet for produce scraps around here is out the back door, this eliminates liability issues for the store. Most stores now have their dumpsters enclosed, not to keep scavengers out but prevent folks from tossing bags of garbage in.

We live in the country and I find myself actually envious of city dwellers who can drive around and get those bags of grass clippings lol! Someday I'll have my small patch of lawn which will help but it didn't happen this year thanks to the weather.

In the meantime the local produce stand said I can check in there every week to see if they have any throw-aways. Unfortunately they said there are hog farmers that also come there to get scraps as well so I've got some competition. That's the problem with hogs -- they're such pigs!! (Okay, I know that was bad)

Danielle

Call me the lucky one. Although, I feared I would meet with ignorance or resistance when approaching a grocery store, I bypassed such a meeting altogether.
An produce dept. employee of a local grocery store chain told that they had to put all their organics in one container, city ordinance or something.
Sure enough, I drove behind the store last night and found a residential-type trashcan labeled "Organics." The whole thing was full!!! I loaded an 18 gallon container with bell peppers, apples, bananas, cabbages, etc. Along with Starbucks, I don't foresee a shortage in greens anytime soon!
I assume all of the grocery stores and other producers of organics in my city are expected by the city to use the organic-labeled trashcans. Starbucks uses the same organic trashcans for their coffee ground disposal.
Maybe some of you could suggest such a program in your community?
Probably the only reason my city runs the program is because they make their own line of compost, mulch, and soil mix. Their label is called Plano Pure. I believe they collect all the grass clippings, leaves, limbs and other natural refuse from houses in Plano,tx and surrounding cities and process it.
Personally, I'll continue to skip the middle-man and make my own.
I'm lucky to live in a "green-friendly" community.

Pete

I am going to jump into the mix here so bear with me. I am a ladder climber. What is that you say?? I have a BIG problem with NO. For some reason my ears try not to hear it and my mind tries not to understand it. Try calling WalMart corporate 1-800-WalMart and climb the ladder until you get someone who actually knows what compost is and explain that you do not want to EAT the bad fruit/veggies but you want to use it as fertilizer. Tell them that Starbucks gives you their spent coffee grounds and that it is CORPORATE POLICY at Starbucks to help organic gardeners. That is what I did. It took me 3 days but I got the OK for ONE of my local WalMart stores to give me the produce. I am a total compost newbie so do not really know what I am doing but I figured I had to start sooner or later.

I will either have a yard full of rats/racoons/possum and other vermin OR I will have nice rich compost. Do not know which yet but so far no rats. I live in the city and although we do not have a problem with rats in our neighborhood we know they are around. We have lots of racoons/possum and squirrels because there are many wooded lots in the neighborhood.

Learn about and understand the Public Health Codes your local grover must comply with. Most of them prohibit the accumulation of waste around the store which could draw vermin and those stores are not going to want to hold on to that waste on the off chance someone will be around to pick it up.

Well I must be lucky coz I work at a Subway. All the greens and browns I could ever use, and then some! But I know my mom collects veggie scraps from the big supermarket stores for chook feed. She just brings in some big trash bags and fills them up from the customer bins in the veggie dept. Gets some weird looks, but there you go. My work mates think I'm nuts, taking rubbish home... lol!
Seriously though, I think it is a sad thing that you can't be given scraps due to liability/health concerns. I don't really blame the stores, I suppose their just trying to cover their asses.
I'm not much help, sorry, but thats my two cents.

Bunks

I'm lucky, I work at a grade school. The kichen staff save their leftovers for me in a bucket that I take home periodically. Get about all I can handle. You might try to get to know a person in restaurants or cafes?
Duane

I found some information about my city's organic recycling program. Maybe you can use it. Links are below.

http://www.environmental-expert.com/resultEachArticle.aspx?cid=6042&codi=19967

http://www.plano.gov/Departments/Environmental+Services/CommercialRecycling/Organic+Recycling.htm

Agree, agree. The larger stores don't empower their employees to use their brains (much less take any initiative) so unless, like dancinglemons, you take the time to find the person who can actually make a DECISION, you probably won't have much success.
I get as much veg/coffee grounds from an upscale restaurant here in Annapolis, as I can use. They are very interested in the composting process, and run out with coffee grounds, etc. when we come by for pickup. I'm very grateful for them, and recommend the place to EVERYBODY. I called at least 5 other places and got a "no" answer before finding them. You would be surprised to find out how many expensive restaurants are buying in already chopped/peeled/sliced veg. Forget about fresh, it saves them money on waste, and of course that's the bottom line for lots and lots of places. It's all about profit, not taste. That's why I grow as many of my own veg. as I can, there's no comparison. Ohhh, don't get me started.....

The restaurant is Northwoods in Annapolis. They are fine people, and they cook seasonally. I can personally testify that their produce is top notch!!! Food's awsome too :-)

Esther, put yourself in the hands of a store manager.
If he allows you to just take and do what you will with whatever is out there, is he not saying "go ahead, rumage in and around and if you cut yourself, or otherwise harm yourself, would he not be in line to be blamed for allowing you to suffer whatever".

So he refuses.

So you, in your good sense to want to compost that which he would rather throw away....do it without his permission.
Now you have put all the blame for whatever squarely on your own shoulders and if something, unbeknownst, happens...well.....the store manager is off the hook.

I used to work for Kroger many years ago. I can tell you if we didn't live in a sue crazy world they would give the produce waste to you. But thanks to the folks that sue at the drop of a pen they are leary to give anything away. Maybe if you get a letter typed up stating what you are using it for, release them from any claims and get it notorized
[ spelling?] they might give it to you then, this is just a guess though. In my neck of the woods you have alot of people that sell produce on the side of the road from the farmers market, you might want to stop at your local farmers market also.
Jill

I asked at Wegmans and the Giant. The Giant gave me a quick no. Wegmans appeared amenable at first when they mentioned that they used to save the spoiling produce for local pig farmers. But after I showed up several times to fill out a form that noone could seem to find they lost interest in helping me. The last time I asked they gave me the story that in order to give me the spoiling produce they would need my tax id number, presumably causing me to be liable for taxes on their waste.

That turned me off to Wegmans for collecting compost materials.

I did place a bin outside of my local Starbucks that the manager agreed to allow to be filled with excess bags of used coffee grounds. She was very reasonable and only asked that I provide the container (a 32 gallon trash can). Unfortunately for me she also told everyone else who showed up for coffee grounds to take them from my bucket, but I still do have a chance of getting up to 6 bags of grounds at a time. That is, if others don't beat me to it. I figure, at the very least, I am stopping more coffee grounds from heading to the landfill with my bucket (since they used to only keep a max of two bags until they went straight into the dumpster), even if its not me who gets them.

Cheers,
Kyle

I get my grounds from the local diner. They too alow a small can to be put out back, but sometimes it takes a week to get full. The waitresses are better at filling the can with coffe grounds and even the large tea bags they use for making brewed iced tea, and left over lettuce. The cook and owner didn't even know what I was using it all for. One guy thought I was a fruit cake, but I have since explained everything to him and now he gets it. He has even asked me to get a bigger container, so all the left over veggies gets tossed there. I have cut back taking grass clippings from my neighbors, since some of them are now spraying and that scares me a bit!

Hey Danielle! Nice to see you here too.

Well, folks, the bad news is the Kroger manager never did get back to me, and Starbucks only gives me a little at a time. But I did find a high-end restaurant near my house that will give me stuff if I happen to call at teh right time. I don't need huge amounts- just a few gallons here adn there to balance all the leaves I've got right now. Still searching for a reliable dealer to give me my fix!!! I'm totally hooked!

I too have had trouble obtaining grocer's produce waste.Usually,when queried,some policy is cited but further questioning reveals that any consideration in this regard is really a nuisance for that department,sometimes related to the "ICK" factor,sometimes compliance with sanitation laws,which are either overlooked or bent for large scale hog raisers.To be fair,the farmers provide large containers for the purpose,and remove same on the agreed schedule.