Finding food in rubbish bins in bid to reduce waste
Days after police caught four Timaru students searching for food in a skip behind a supermarket, another student has spoken out, saying she believes too much food is being wasted.
However supermarket managers disagree, pointing to concerns about food safety.
Police warned the group of 17and 18-year-olds for unlawfully being in an enclosed yard after they were found searching for food outside Countdown on Church St on Thursday night.
Timaru student Rosemarie Keen said she believed they were only helping minimise the amount of food being dumped and she was annoyed by what she considered to be a culture of waste. Keen, who is one of a growing number of people campaigning against food waste, admits to taking food from supermarket bins in the past – a practice commonly known as ‘dumpsterdiving’.
‘‘I want to raise awareness to find a solution for those who can’t afford food,’’ Keen said.
According to the nationwide Love Food Hate Waste campaign, which launched in June 2016, the average Kiwi family throws away three shopping trolleys of edible food each year. The initiative partnered with 60 councils, including the Timaru District Council, to help reduce waste.
However, supermarket spokespeople say food placed in rubbish bins is not edible and they fear ‘dumpster-divers’ will get ill.
New World Supermarket Highfield owner/operator Caroline Hall said edible food unable to be sold was donated to charity and dumpster-diving was not a common occurrence at the supermarket.
Any food placed in skips, which was not on its way to a pig farm, was sub-standard and should not be eaten, especially if it had not been refrigerated for a few hours, Hall said.
‘‘It’s about quality control and food safety. We have very little wastage. Not much goes to landfill.’’
The supermarket donated edible food to The Salvation Army, damaged pet food was given to Street Cats South Canterbury and the SPCA, and any slops were sent to the piggery, she said.
Countdown spokesman James Walker said it had a leading food rescue programme in place which was awarded the Ministry for the Environment’s Green Ribbon Award for Business Leadership.
Its policy, like that of Foodstuffs, which owns Pak ‘n Save and New World, was to donate food still fit for consumption to its community foodbank charity partners.
He warned that bins were kept in a secure environment in the stores, because they should not be accessed.
‘‘There is absolutely no guarantee that food in these bins is safe to consume.’’
Salvation Army community ministries manager Jane Ferguson said supermarkets were hugely supportive of the foodbank the church ran. ‘‘Without them we wouldn’t get by.
‘‘We get regular weekly donations of perishable, nonperishable and short-dated frozens. It sustains our stock levels,’’ Ferguson said.
SPCA South Canterbury manager Barry Fairbrother said his organisation was also grateful for non-perishable pet food donated by supermarkets.
‘‘It is quite helpful and the amount varies. We always appreciate it.’’
Keen said, while she did not wish to discredit supermarkets, she believed there was room for improvement and questioned the number of bakery items being dumped.
‘‘They (supermarkets) don’t sell them because they are a bit stale but they are still consumable. I have eaten mouldy bread in the past. I just cut the mould off.’’
A lot of the vegetables tossed were not in a condition to sell but were ok to eat, she said.
Her answer to the problem was for Timaru to follow the lead of other districts and distribute the food to marae and foodbanks.
‘‘We have a good programme for recycling, which is one of the leading ones in the country. The landfill has a finite life.’’
A community fridge where excess produce could be stored for any member of the public to help themselves also worked in other places, Keen said.
‘‘I hope someone will step up and solve this.’’