Key points:
- Over 20 per cent Australians faced food shortage in 2022.
- Between 20 – 40 per cent of fruits and vegetables are wasted before they reach the shops.
- Australia wastes 7.6 million tonnes of food each year, 70 per cent of it is fit for consumption.
When a refugee boat brought Phyllix Tam’s family from Vietnam to Australia during the Vietnam War, they were eating food scraps during that hard journey.
Decades later, Ms Tam is doing the same, although she had a six-figure salary before quitting her job as a civil engineer last year.
Australian-born and of Chinese-Vietnamese heritage, Ms Tam tells SBS Chinese that she was introduced to dumpster diving early last year by a friend.
She described it as a “treasure hunt”.
“Underneath a layer of shredded cabbage leaves, was a goldmine of vegetables. That was really cool,” she says, recalling her dumpster diving experience.
While Ms Tam said her family, as refugees, do not believe in food wastage, they don’t understand why she would go and find free food from the trash when they were clothed and fed.
Some people in my family wonder why I go dumpster diving after they've come such a long way, worked so hard to give us everything.PHYLLIX TAM
Ms Tam is able to fulfil most of her need for groceries from dumpsters and spends as little as $40 a month on the things she needs to buy.
Phyllix Tam, 31, worked as a civil engineer for several years before resigning. Credit: Supplied
Quest for perfection causes wastage
When Ms Tam explains to people why she goes dumpster diving, she tells them, “it’s not purely a money thing,” but food wastage runs against her morals.
In Australia, each year and of the food is fit for consumption.
That means every person wastes 312 kg of food a year, which costs the Australian economy .
that 20 to 40 per cent of fruits and vegetables are eliminated from the supply chain before they reach the shelves, primarily because of their substandard appearance.
The idea that food needs to look perfect, makes people chuck away a lot of it without valuing the time, effort and resources the farmers put into bringing it to us.PHYLLIX TAM
The 31-year-old tells SBS Chinese that most of the bruised or expired food she found from bins was “perfectly fine to eat”, including root vegetables and packaged salmon, beef and chicken.
Ms Tam says she hopes to raise awareness about food wastage by sharing her experience with more people.
“My parents didn't know that we were wasting that much food in Australia, they were so surprised when I told them,” she adds.
If I tell enough people and we raise enough awareness, then people may get involved and invested and maybe something can be done.PHYLLIX TAM
Even though she finds dumpster diving useful, Ms Tam says she would not encourage others to do so because of the legal risks. She adds that she has experienced many situations where people “caught her’.
“They [supermarket staff] will just tell you to go away or yell at you for a little bit... We just pick up whatever we have and then walk away and try not to have any sort of altercation,” she says.
Phyllix Tam says she gets most of her food from the trash and spends just $40 a month on essentials. Credit: Supplied
One-fifth Australians face hunger crisis
While food wastage remains an issue in Australia, reports from food relief organisations suggest that more and more people are struggling to secure food for their tables.
According to the , one in five Australians has experienced severe food insecurity in the last 12 months, rising from to .
The report also notes that over 2 million households have been left without food due to limited finances, with 1.3 million children affected.
Brianna Casey, Foodbank Australia CEO, tells SBS Chinese they have noticed an increasing demand for their food relief services in 2022.
Food insecurity for these people ranges from compromising the quality and quantity of their food right through to skipping meals or going entire days without eating.BRIANNA CASEY
A Melbourne-based employee of a large supermarket chain reveals to SBS Chinese that they “donate some substandard groceries” to shelters every week.
She adds that the supermarket has been taking action to reduce food wastage.
“We do our best to manage inventory to reduce food waste. Many customers buy discounted food that's near expiration, which I think is great,” she adds.
Some supermarkets offer discounts on groceries that are close to their expiry date. Source: SBS / Nicole Gong
Fighting food waste
SBS Chinese reached out to the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water to understand what steps are being taken to tackle this challenge.
“Australia is committed to halving food waste by 2030. The government is working with states and territories, business, industry and non-government organisations to reduce food loss and waste across the food supply chain,” a spokesperson told SBS Chinese.
“The national Food Waste for Healthy Soils Fund is building new or expanding existing, organic recycling facilities to support local councils to divert organic waste from landfill.
“To date, $28.5 million of Commonwealth funding has been awarded to 20 projects across the country,” the spokesperson added.
Australian households account for a third of the country’s food waste.SPOKESPERSON, DEPARTMENT OF CLIMATE CHANGE, ENERGY, THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER
Dr Amy Carrad believes this is partly because Australians are accustomed to having abundant food.
Dr Carrad is a research officer at the Australian National University whose expertise includes sustainable food and food systems.
“For the most part, Australians live in a world of abundance,” she tells SBS Chinese.
This can act as a signal that we don’t need to worry about wasting food because there will always be more.DR AMY CARRAD
In the past few months, action has been taken across state governments, including the City of Melbourne by posting a , while the ACT Government is progressing its .
Dr Amy Darrad‘s research covers sustainable food and food systems. Credit: Supplied
“Having a policy is an important part of signalling good intentions for sustainable food systems, but the implementation of these policies is what makes the difference,” she remarks.
She also emphasises that shifting household food waste is challenging, in part because reducing food waste often isn’t the priority for individuals.
“If you’ve spent your money on buying the food, try to make sure you eat it," she adds.
