Dumpster diver shows off controversial food haul
A popular Australian TikToker has shown off the crazy amount of fruit and vegetables they have salvaged after going dumpster diving behind a supermarket.
Luca Corby filmed a dumpster diving expedition in Canberra to prove just how much fresh produce gets thrown out each day, captioning the video: “Anywaysss f**k big corporations.”
Corby and two friends donned head torches before heading to a nearby store and taking a look in the bins.
@weinerfingerss Reply to @charliemaycraft anywaysss f*ck big corporations #costoflivingcrisis #foodwaste ♬ original sound - Luca Corby
“Food is expensive at the moment, so let’s go dumpster diving” they said.
First off, the group managed to salvage a number of potatoes, carrots, leeks and a huge knob of ginger, which Corby estimated to be worth about $20.
“Look at this lettuce, it is literally fresh. There is a couple of dead leaves on the outside but the inside is all fresh,” they said.
The group also found rhubarb, mandarins, capsicums, oranges, grapes and asparagus.
Corby filmed a follow-up the following day explaining once they came home, they washed all the fruit and vegetables and put them in the fridge.
“Our fridge is stocked for the next week. Our groceries for this week were essentially free,” they said.
“It’s crazy because we just went to a small supermarket, but you can imagine Coles and Woolworths would be throwing out so much stuff while families are struggling to buy fresh vegetables.”
A few weeks earlier, Corby shared a picture of the huge amount of fresh produce their friend sourced after it was thrown out at a local IGA.
The first video has clocked up more than 70,000 views, with many people shocked at how much fresh produce had been thrown away.
“This is so heartbreaking to see. The food looks so fresh. People are struggling right now,” one person said.
Another added: “Well done! It’s an absolute crime that those perfectly good foods can be thrown in the trash.”
Both Woolworths and Coles have initiatives in place to reduce food waste in their stores. Woolies have implemented a Food Rescue and Recycling Program to help stores identify and divert surplus fresh food away from landfill. The discarded produce is instead used for things like hunger relief, animal stock feed at local farms and zoos, or for commercial composting.
The supermarket giant works with OzHarvest, Foodbank and FareShare to make leftover edible food available to local hunger relief agencies.
Coles has also introduced its Together to Zero Waste initiative to help reduce food waste across its stores.
Image: TikTok