Sabra Lane: The Cost of Living Parliamentary Inquiry singled out supermarkets for contributing to the high rates of food waste in Australia. It's recommended ways to reduce food bills and waste, as some Australians resort to rummaging through supermarket bins because they can't afford to shop. Some so-called dumpster divers say that what they find highlights the gross amounts of food needlessly wasted in a cost of living crisis. John Daly filed this report from Perth.
Jon Daly: With gloves and a head torch, John digs through the bins out the back of major supermarkets for his weekly groceries. He calls it food hustling.
John digs : Yeah, I mean you find pretty much everything you can, you see in the supermarket, you can find it back in the bins. One rule of the thumb is you never dig from the bottom of the bin. Why? Because that's where all the juices are.
Jon Daly: John bought his first home during the pandemic, but now he's unemployed. Dumpster diving has helped him keep on top of the bills.
John digs : I would have to say I was able to pay more of my home loan down.
Jon Daly: He times his runs at dusk when stores close, then fills an empty milk crate with food destined for landfill.
John digs : We can have a quick look in the green bins, because green bins are usually for veggies.
Jon Daly: Oh, holy dooly. We've just opened up this bin. There's a lot of bread. A lot of bread.
John digs : I'm old, what's the date?
John digs : John says what he finds on these dumpster dives would surprise the average consumer.
John digs : Well, I think they'd be shocked. And I think once you get over the initial stigma of, like, you know, I suppose stigma is, I look at a guy, he's going to the bin, he must be poor. You know, change your mindset, think of it, it's a resource.
Jon Daly: This food is deemed unfit for consumption, but people are resorting to eating it in this cost of living crisis. A Salvation Army survey of 1,500 people needing financial relief found one in four ate expired or spoiled food, while one in 20 ate food from rubbish bins. In Hobart, the community group Grassroots Action Network Tasmania began searching supermarket bins to help struggling members. Network member Danny Carney says it eventually took on a more political element.
Danny Carney : You know, a lot of people get into dumpster diving to kind of meet their own food needs, but it's quite a radicalising act when you see there's so much unnecessary struggle happening when so much of this stuff goes into the bin.
Jon Daly: The network raised the issue of supermarkets waste to the Senate inquiry into supermarket pricing. The Greens-chaired inquiry has now recommended investigating cosmetic standards on fruit and vegetables, setting up a supermarket waste reporting system and reforming used by and best before labels. The Australia Institute's senior economist Matt Grudinoff says supermarkets ultimately profit from Australians' wasteful ways.
Matt Grudnoff : Supermarkets have been talking about this, but we think that they're going too slowly and we're concerned that in part that might be the profit motive. That is, they're making a large profit from households wasting food and so there is an incentive for them not to do more.
Jon Daly: In a statement to AM, Woolworths said it diverted 80 per cent of its food waste from landfill last year and partners with hunger relief organisations. Coles said last year it donated 20,000 tonnes of unsold edible food to food rescue organisations Second Bite and Foodbank. The Federal Government has three months to respond to the Senate inquiry's recommendations.
Sabra Lane: Jon Daly reporting there.