Highlights of My Year Dumpster Diving to Reveal Supermarkets' Dirty Secrets

Matt Homewood shares the highlights of his year of dumpster diving to reveal supermarkets dirty secrets.
"Back in 2018, I discovered that between 33% & 50% of all food produced on this planet is wasted. That’s between 1.2 and 2 trillion kilograms of wasted food every single year! No wonder we’ve created all these social and environmental problems for ourselves.
That’s when I decided to launch “An Urban Harvester” on Instagram. Through my daily Urban Harvest photos in Copenhagen, my goal is to bring these Food “Waste” statistics to life!
After dumpster diving in thousands of supermarket dumpsters in the world’s “most sustainable” city, my mission is to end Supermarket Food Waste in Denmark and beyond.
By disrupting the prevailing supermarket business model, I believe this will help us transition to a fairer & more sustainable Food System."

Follow Matt Homewood:
TikTok @anurbanharvester

Robin Greenfield is a truth-seeker, activist, social reformer and servant to Earth, humanity and our plant and animal relatives. He lives simply and sustainably to be the change he wishes to see in the world. Through living closely connected to Earth, he rejects the status quo of consumerism and demonstrates a way of being in gratitude, mindfulness and presence. His life is an experiment with truth and integrity.

Robin’s public activism involves dramatic actions designed to provoke critical thought, self-reflection and positive change. His activism creates nuanced conversations on the critical issues of our time, with a focus on solutions for living in harmony.
His life’s work has been covered by media worldwide and he has been named “The Robin Hood of Modern Times” by France 2 TV and “The Forrest Gump of Ecology”.

Robin has committed to earning below the federal poverty threshold for life and donates 100% of his media earnings to grassroots nonprofits, with a focus on supporting Black and Indigenous women-led organizations.

This channel is a resource for all who seek to liberate themselves, to live in truth and integrity, and to live in harmony with Earth, humanity and the plants and animals we share this home with.

Robin Greenfield and Dear Friends share means of achieving liberation and harmony through sustainable living, simple living, tiny house living, foraging, growing food and medicine, minimalism, zero waste, earth-skills, food sovereignty, community resilience, compassionate communication, activism, Black Liberation, Indigenous Sovereignty and living in service.

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[matthomewood]

Hi everyone,
Thanks to everybody who has shown an interest in the Food Waste Fiasco! What a pleasure it was to make this video with my friends Rob Greenfield & Daniel Saddleton. The fight goes on here in Denmark. Some friends & I are now organising a campaign taking a place this summer to shine a light on Denmark's Supermarket Food Waste Scandal. Let's envision a fairer, more sustainable Food System!
Warm greetings to you all,
Matt

[GreenTea-Pose]

oh boy, I can tell you first hand how depressing it is being the person who has to throw out the food... I worked at Waitrose in the UK, and my job was to spend 8 hours going through every single fresh produce item, checking the sell by date, and reducing the stuff that was going off that day or the next day. Fresh produce includes everything from meat, to milk, to veg etc.

As the day goes on the reduce price keeps going down in price to the point where, within the last hour/ half and hour, all items would be 10p - 50p and they still wouldn't sell!

Every day I would have to throw anywhere between 1 tote to 1 small trolly worth of food into the bin (a tote is a plastic box used in supermarkets, and by small trolly I mean the ones you put a £1 in to use). I have had to stand there and throw things like 6 (perfectly okay to eat) tuna steaks into the bin with literally nothing I could do to prevent it... IT IS A HORRIBLE JOB. Taking the food ourselves was a sackable offence, and I couldn't buy everything myself because I'm not made of money (I was being paid pretty much minimum wage for only 2 days a week). AND I didn't have enough freezer space to keep all the random items.

I would buy as much as I can myself and I basically lived off the reduced food; which 90% of the time would last a whole week after the sell by date... I worked real hard at that job because I felt I was single handedly responsible for ensuring our food waste was low - No items were missed and I reduced the items as cheaply as I could as early as I could. The problem is that the system decided what the price should be, not humans, and the system doesn't care about food waste, only profits. You need human common sense to decide how cheap something should be from taking into account how busy the shop is, visually how the product looks, the time of year/ season (e.g. gravy sells way better in winter/ around Christmas because people will probably use it the day or day after they buy it, so outside that season you need to reduce it fast and cheap).

Sorry for venting but its a job that genuinely take a toll on your conscious, and kinda sticks with you. I was in London when working at this job, and I would pass homeless people whilst walking home after just throwing a trolly worth of meat, veg, sandwiches etc into a bin.

[ArtichokeHunter]

This is how I lived on less than minimum wage in NYC. It's extra easy there because they just put trash bags on the curb before pickup, so you just open it up, take what you want, and tie the bags up again. Even nonperishables, like Scotch tape. And usually the good stuff is in separate bags from the actual trash so it's pretty easy.

[gregorydaines]

It’s amazing that supermarkets can still profit with their outgoings and still trash this much food.

[AbbyS]

This breaks my heart that there are people dying because they don’t have enough food and grocery stores would rather throw it away then give it to a starving person. 😔

[PetervanderPalm]

Here in the Netherlands we have the food bank for poor people. That is where the food surpluses go. It is strange that this is necessary in such a rich country. However, a lot of food is thrown away that is out of date. That food is also good for a while longer. I think it's good that you expose this problem in such a good way. Good luck in your fight for a better world.

[the_earth_mystic]

Thank you for doing this...it's ridiculous the ways in which humans place value on food...I think it stems from a lack of understanding of where our food comes from which stems from a lack of connection with nature.

[crazycritterlady]

40 yrs ago my boyfriend and I used to dumpster dive, we actually bought very little food and we gave some away to friends and neighbors who couldn't be caught dear doing what we did but we're happy to take our extras and even gave us lists of things to bring them! It got too crazy so we told them we stopped but we didn't we just took old shopping bags with us and brought home the Goode pretty bagged like the grocery store does. We did this till the laws came out making it illegal to dumpster dive! Now days we shop sales, markdown items and ask for goods for our "farm" animals. Things like produce that gets tossed out, bones & meat cuttings "for our dogs" from that we make a few things lard, bone broth (the dogs do get the bigger bones to chew on after we are done with them), stew from the small meat still clinging to the bones and fat. As far as the vegis go we harvest as much as we can for outselves (and the rest go to the chickens, rabbits, pigs etc), so we are not really lying when we ask for the trimmings for the animals. Much love from So.Cal.💟

[LSinclair]

Mind boggling. Shocking! Thank you so much for informing the world, gentlemen.

[duckyluver]

You simply cannot do this in my city :( All the supermarkets have compactors for their garbage that are accessible only from inside the store and everything that gets tossed in is immediately squished and destroyed.

[sreykmao]

I don't understand, if it expired but still good why not donate it food pantry or food bank? You can still do a lot with it.

[VenusVoice]

I need me more white friends so I can do stuff like this and not look crazy.

[AdamShaiken]

Dumpster diving can also be lucrative !!! Believe it or else...choose your passion and the dumpsters will provide !!!

[carolinafd]

Great video. After living in Copenhagen for some years, I think this is the land of Greenwashing. I am horrified by how much food supermarkets waste. And worst, the data about food waste in Denmark is self-reported! I tink this is the reason why they keep low food waste data. It is awful to see that.

[snehapatel]

Hi I just came across your YouTube channel I was very fascinated with the work u are doing...You just inspired me to learn more about how the vegetables are grown over here in my area..I don’t know where to start thought..but I definitely want to figure it out..

[Outlaw-Creative-Junior]

I admire your tenacity and ambition! There is times when I go dumpster diving I HOPE to find loads of food in the dumpsters. I live in the U.S.A and get $726 per month in social security every month, that's ALL and maybe only $68 in food stamps, if it stays to that level, they have cut my food stamps before without NO reason and NO increase in money like the food stamp office told me would happen, if you got extra money, which I NEVER did, I may only get $33 and with bills that are higher and going higher cause of the virus and I am in the negative at the bank by $200 currently and when other bills come in, it will be more, I try to dumpster dive whenever I can. I believe in GOD and HE has Helped me lots of times when I had NO or LOW food amounts. Some things I worry about is those stores locking their dumpsters or destroying the items they have thrown away, dumpster diving is NOT illegal around many parts of the U.S.A, it's the stores managers or the corporations don't want people diving in their dumpsters, so they will either lock their dumpsters or destroy the merchandise and think you won't take it, YET when you are desperate and do not have food an open box or bag doesn't seem that bad. I have been low before sometimes to the point of worrying where I will get food when my food stamps or money runs out and sure there are food pantries, yet they may only give 2 Walmart sized bags of food and some of the food may require baking and you may NOT have gas or anything to bake it in or even other ingredients people don't have and they WILL ONLY give that to you ONCE a month, NO MORE than that and NO dog food either, so you are really NOT getting too much at ALL, dumpster diving really helps people out and some businesses act like, I don't care and some of the people that works for those businesses says my hands are tied by corporate they stop us from giving that food away cause they may think even if they are doing a good deed they will be sued by a person that gets sick if they gave the food away and it past it's best by date. I trust in GOD when I dumpster dive. You can always smell and taste the food, if it has a bad smell or taste, don't eat it. Checking recall lists to can also HELP if someone has internet access. I have taken hamburger before that actually I shouldn't of taken and it did have a sour or rot smell to it and I took it anyway in desperation and thoroughly cooked it before my dogs or me ate it. GOD BLESS YOU ALL!

[xmetalgamerx]

I can’t explain the anger that rushed through my veins seeing that hunger statistic and the food waste statistic side by side. It really makes me want to help in any way I can.

[YalisCommunity]

Thanks for sharing this video. Supermarkets should have the product in a huge container that can be refill and customers be able to just bring there own containers and fill it up with the product just like Mom's organic market they have many items like this but not all. It would certainly be awesome to have isles with the product description and we can just choose exactly how much we want to take home. No more plastic, waste and unnecessary packaging.

[mariquiroz]

Wonderful information!!! 🙏🏽💞💫I too want to be part of the change!😃🌻💕

[TrashyCookie]

You make it look alot easier to find stuff than it actually is in Copenhagen. There is alot of divers and as soon as the supermarkets have put a lock on their dumpsters, it's illegal to go near it.
There are also alot of great initiatives in Copenhagen where food is being distributed instead of thrown out. Like WeFood supermarkets or free food distribution twice a week.