ALDI Wasteful Food

sarahlump on 28/04/2020 - 04:52
Last edited 29/04/2020 - 10:12 by 1 other user

Every few days Aldi(every Aldi store) throws out 1-2 big skips of fresh bread, fresh fruit, and fresh vegetables. If you're ever having difficulty paying for groceries, if you walk past their store on a sunday night at 8pm(they close at 7) you can just grab that fresh food for free!!!

Better yet, it almost feels like they are criminals for throwing so much food away. It feels like you're saving food from going to waste.

some background: I've been dumpster diving fairly regularly for 4 years now.
For 2 years I decided to say screw it and just stopped buying groceries altogether and just lived off dumpster diving, and let me tell you the getting was good!!! I was getting easily $200-300 of groceries for free every week! not even every fortnight. I even took up composting because I couldnt eat all the fresh fruit and veg I was getting.

Moderator Warning: In Australia, dumpster diving can be illegal. Different councils and areas have different rules and restrictions. Generally, being on private property without permission is illegal, and the legal ownership of discarded property depends on local council laws.

Food & Grocery

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Comments

  • Randolph Duke on 28/04/2020 - 17:31
    -1

    Is this more fishing for comments to post on Twitter?

    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/comment/8605129/redir

  • DiscoJango on 28/04/2020 - 17:38

    I often dumpster dive my own bin and my neighbors, you wont believe what i find next!

  • Spicytunaroll on 28/04/2020 - 19:56
    +1

    This. Is. The. Post. Of. The. Year.

    • sarahlump on 01/05/2020 - 06:52
      +2

      you should see me pick my nose, this post is nothing in comparison

  • greatlamp on 28/04/2020 - 20:03

    If supermarkets were not throwing away bins full of food every week, we would all have starved during the panic buying.

    There is nothing wrong with throwing away food. If we didn't throw it away, farmers would be producing less. There would still be homeless and hungry people. Food banks have plenty of food (maybe not a lot of choices though)

    Who benefits from not throwing away food?

    Also if you post me on Twitter, I expect to be quoted as 'ozbargain professional'

    • iDroid on 28/04/2020 - 20:15
      +1

      Who benefits from not throwing away food?

      There are real energy costs associated with waste (over production).

      If it was left over lawn clippings then maybe, but a crap load of energy (read fuel, fertilizer, water, etc) went into the production.

      We can't point at the individual who suffers, it's a shared cost.

    • sarahlump on 29/04/2020 - 06:38
      -1

      I mostly post the assholes.

      • brendanm on 29/04/2020 - 15:19

        Am I on there? Share a screenshot if you can.

  • Bills22 on 28/04/2020 - 20:31

    Do you plan on suing Aldi if you get ill from consuming discarded food from the bin? I remember there was a case in the USA about this…

    • sarahlump on 29/04/2020 - 06:39

      I've never gotten sick? I practice a long lost art of common sense and look at, and smell what I grab. I also look at the best before dates, usually its very far away.
      Edit: if you think about how long it takes you to go to the grocery store, 10-20 minutes, that's about the minimum it takes to go through a dumpster, followed by an inspection of the food, than an extra hour+ to process and clean/freeze all the food. it's a bit of an endeavor.

  • saintpotter on 28/04/2020 - 20:55

    Any Aldi throwing out popcorn? Need it for this thread

    • sarahlump on 29/04/2020 - 06:40

      there's always bags and bags of chips and popcorn. if the big bag of small bags breaks, they throw it all out

  • MeesusEff on 28/04/2020 - 21:03
    +1

    So are you thankful or complaining about it? Since this is how you get free "good food"? Or do you want to upgrade to just going in the store to get fresh food without needing to pay as it's "your right" 🙄

    • sarahlump on 29/04/2020 - 06:40

      I love getting free food, it's more of a way to save food. And a small commentary on the artificial scarcity our food economy is based on.

  • CheeryCheapskate on 28/04/2020 - 22:19

    Dumpster Diving isn't as popular in Australia so I'm not surprised that those that choose to do it get a decent haul of products. Many of us already see people stalk hard rubbish and despite council's/legal issues, it's in a way not too far off from grocery "mark downs" to get rid of things. I don't dumpster dive but I can understand why people would do it out of either saving money and/or just are in need of things that they cannot or don't want to afford. The only problem I see are health related, mess and trespassing.

  • [Deactivated] on 28/04/2020 - 22:53

    Woolies and coles regularly have food marked down closer to closing time. Whilst not free, still crazy cheap.Not sure about Aldi.

    Edit : pic not mine but was taken today

    • sarahlump on 29/04/2020 - 06:42

      I get a lot of the daily specials from woolies or coles. to be honest, they are a bit hit or miss. But oof coles throws out anzac biscuits by the giant garbage bag. they dont even take them out of the plastic box to throw them. Really good for snacks.

  • [Deactivated] on 29/04/2020 - 02:01

    Dumpster Diving is illegal . In NSW, it falls under "Goods in personal custody suspected being stolen.". The maximum penalty for this offence is 6 months imprisonment or 5 penalty units ( 5 x $110). And yes, people have been fined for dumpster diving.

    Elsie Parker, a dumpster diver from Northern NSW, was fined $350 in 2012 for taking material from a Big W bin that she intended to use as art supplies.

    The official offence stated on Elsie's fine reads: "Goods in personal custody suspected being stolen." The terminology is disturbingly vague and the premise slipshod; her punishment is based on suspicion rather than established guilt. But it sets a precedent for Australian dumpster divers: though there is no specific law that prohibits it, a person may be fined for dumpster diving.

  • [Deactivated] on 29/04/2020 - 07:36

    Edit: in NSW the state chief of police officially stated that they would not prosecute dumpster diving.

    Source? There has been precedents of people being prosecuted, specifically in NSW.

    It falls under the "Goods in personal custody suspected being stolen"(armstronglegal.com.au)in NSW , or whatever the equivalent is in each state, and is a punishable offence of up to $550 or 6 months imprisonment.

    Elsie Parker, a dumpster diver from Northern NSW, was fined $350 in 2012 for taking material from a Big W bin that she intended to use as art supplies.

    The official offence stated on Elsie's fine reads: "Goods in personal custody suspected being stolen." The terminology is disturbingly vague and the premise slipshod; her punishment is based on suspicion rather than established guilt. But it sets a precedent for Australian dumpster divers: though there is no specific law that prohibits it, a person may be fined for dumpster diving.

    There are also several food rescue organisations which collect excess food from businesses and redistribute it to charities that support Australians who are doing it tough. For e.g Foodbank, Secondbite, Ozharvest, REAP, Fareshare, Food rescue…etc All OP had to do was either contact one of them or speak to a manager at Aldi if she is concerned about food wastage. It is as easy as that in most cases. There is no need for OP to be stealing food from dumpsters in the middle of the night and stuffing it in an unrefrigerated van to 'distribute' or to be encouraging others to do the same.

    • sarahlump on 01/05/2020 - 06:55

      Jar Jar, why don't you try to be happy for a little while, I'm putting you on ignore, I haven't found your arguments to be helpful. And like many of my professors over the years have told me when I ask for some information that a simple search of relevant material will expose, find the answer yourself. I didn't post a source because it was part of the public record.

  • darkmoss on 29/04/2020 - 09:41
    -3

    ALDI sux

  • payless69 on 29/04/2020 - 09:41
    +1

    I am surprised! We have no Aldi for 1000km but when travelling we get everything there we can get. No wasted shopping carts! Fortunate to try their stores in many countries they carry most but not all of our needs. Back in Europe Lidl gives them a huge run for their money. Locally Coles has in many's opinion a higher cultural standard with Woolies pouring bleach over goods dumped. Locally it took years to force leftover bread to be given to charity. Amazing how they have the power to reject food that is 99.9% perfect. We travelled Europe living of old Aldi bread usually sold 60% off and found it to be healthier.

    • [Deactivated] on 29/04/2020 - 10:23

      Amazing how they have the power to reject food that is 99.9% perfect.

      Not sure about coles and Aldi , but woolies sells imperfect veggies and fruits under the brand 'The odd bunch' for cheap.

  • capslock janitor on 29/04/2020 - 10:58
    +1

    you typo'd sarahdump <3

  • gromit on 29/04/2020 - 14:55
    +1

    In Canberra my Brother usually gets a few ute loads a week from one of the local bakeries he feeds it to his cattle. There is actually quite a few that do this to the point you actually have to be on a rotation schedule to get it. surprised the supermarkets don't do similar, would cost them nothing and is very high value animal food.

    • netjock on 30/04/2020 - 11:29

      Could probably say the same for a lot of produce that gets ploughed back into the ground due to cancelled orders.

  • piston3461 on 29/04/2020 - 17:29
    +2

    Disgusting and obvious troll

  • adam149 on 29/04/2020 - 20:11

    If you've ever eaten Aldi bread you would know that referring to it as fresh is stretching the truth a little.

    • unelectric on 29/04/2020 - 20:44

      It tastes two days old fresh off the shelves

  • jerrysfang on 30/04/2020 - 10:28

    It's called Capitalism 101

    • [Deactivated] on 30/04/2020 - 13:04

      Nope. It's called Trolling 101

  • kradkirby on 30/04/2020 - 15:02

    Yeah I worked at Aldi for a year, and we would have a full skip bin's worth of bread almost every night. The bread is good for several days more, and was being sold full price until the shop closed that day. It's just that no customer will buy bread that will expire in three days.

    Fun fact: you can have the store put free bread/produce (that was going to be binned anyway) aside for you if you are doing it for charitable purposes.

    • [Deactivated] on 30/04/2020 - 15:11

      When was that? Aldi has been donating its unsold food directly to charities since 2017.

      • kradkirby on 30/04/2020 - 22:57

        Last year. At our store, we would donate a single shopping trolley's worth twice a week to the local charity. But more than that in bread alone would be discarded every night. Staff were also not allowed to put more than two loaves in the staff kitchen for workers on break (and we were even told we could only use certain breads, even though the better bread was being thrown out and had many days left til expiry!).

  • SupeNintendoChalmers on 30/04/2020 - 15:17
    +3

    You want to hear a depressing story?

    When I was younger I worked for a store chain partially named after a certain phallus. Anyhoo my job was to take perfectly good electronics like TVs, DVD players etc and destroy them as we could not sell them to the public either because it was scratched or returned by a customer (manufacturer would not accept it), and instead of at least trying to sell it to staff (a big no no) I had to "write off" the goods.

    I internally wept when I had to drive a crowbar through a perfectly ok Panasonic Plasma TV, which by the way retailed then for almost $10K!

    • dddddog on 30/04/2020 - 15:34

      are you serious?

    • [Deactivated] on 30/04/2020 - 19:19
      +2

      trying to sell it to staff (a big no no)

      I have heard anecdotal stories of companies agreeing to sell staff "leftover or damaged" stock, and then only to have staff game the system. Staff do this by intentionally mildly damaging the item they desired or setting aside goods that they personally deemed "flawed", not those which were genuinely damaged outside of the staff's control.

      So it's a mechanism to ensure that staff don't swipe the good stuff (whilst not minding cosmetic flaws), and to prevent collusion between the staff and their "customer" friend.

      Wasteful? Yes.

      Necessary? Arguably and unfortunately, yes. Not everyone can be trusted… Lots of dodgy people + their friend…

      • Ughhh on 30/04/2020 - 20:09

        Same thing with KFC, from what I was told by a friend who worked there. They can't donate the left over chicken due to possibility of being sued is someone gets sick. They can't give to staff as the cooks will mostly likely deliberately cook more than required for free food.

        Being nice can be expensive.

    • CheeryCheapskate on 01/05/2020 - 10:16

      Respect for sharing the story. I used to think they just donate them to schools or those that need it; even donate to charities. Dang!

  • Hoolio on 30/04/2020 - 16:19
    +1

    OP is like Ozbargainer level > 9000

    respect

  • iSamurai on 01/05/2020 - 07:23
    +1

    Can I just say that in France, since 2016, they have banned supermarkets from throwing food away. So they are selling near sell by date food at a steep discount, or giving them to food banks. They have infrastructure set up so that it doesn’t cost the supermarkets to direct the food to food banks. Only unsaleable food gets thrown away (but that is a grey area).

    When I was in France at Super U I picked up some ridiculously cheap items that just had €1 stickers on them. At an Aldi they had the marked down fruit and veg after the cashier (which is really strange) so you can grab a whole lot during checkout (which makes the checkout very inefficient, but that’s another story. People are having conversations with the cashiers anyway). The fruits were over ripe and they looked like they had to be eaten that day. But it seems like they’re really following the law to the tee.

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