The shameful food waste mentioned in your editorial (The Argus, October 25) can largely be blamed on the demise of high street shops and the proliferation of supermarkets which encourage full trolleys to feed freezers.

The “buy-one-get-one-free” deal encourages waste when more often than not the free one isn’t used.

I remember my dear old mother saying: “I’m just going down St James’s Street,” in the days when she had to count ha’pennies.

Her basket would contain just enough for a day or two ahead; a “nice bit of fish” perhaps, eggs and bacon rashers from Sainsbury’s, vegetables and, if I was a good boy, a cake from Ogden’s.

Those were the times when you bought a single item in the high street.

Who would drive to a supermarket nowadays for a box of matches?

Maurice Packham, Station Road, Horsham

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