Coles supermarket is accused of wasting good food after shoppers spots six trolley loads of bread thrown into the bin
- A Coles supermarket has been accused of wasting fresh food by a local resident
- Raphael Brous, from Melbourne, shared pictures of trolleys loaded with bread
- Mr Brous, who lives close to the store in St Kilda East, claims it is not a one-off
- A Coles spokesperson said they are committed to redistributing unsold food
A local Coles supermarket has been accused of wasting fresh food by a resident who claims he sees six trolley loads of bread chucked into the bin every day.
Raphael Brous, from Melbourne, shared pictures of the trolleys loaded with fresh bread, baguettes and pastries outside Coles Balaclava in St Kilda East at about 8am on Wednesday.
Mr Brous, who lives locally, claims the sighting is not a one-off incident as he sees the loaded trolleys every morning.
A local Coles supermarket has been accused of wasting fresh food by a resident who claims she sees six trolley loads of bread chucked into the bin every day
Mr Brous, who lives locally, claims the sighting is not a one off incident as he sees the loaded trolleys and dumpsters packed with food every morning
'Here is one of this morning's six trolleys of untouched gourmet bread. Soft, sweet and not a spot of mould!' he wrote on Facebook.
Mr Brous described the photos as 'obscene'.
The Facebook post has since been inundated with comments from concerned residents.
Share this article
'Give it to the homeless,' one person commented.
'This is just one Coles. Imagine how much is being dumped in all the branches and what about Woolies,' wrote another.
Others suggested the large amount of leftovers was simply a reflection of consumer demand.
Raphael Brous, from Melbourne, shared pictures of the trolleys loaded with fresh bread, baguettes and pastries outside Coles Balaclava in St Kilda East at about 8am on Wednesday
Mr Brous described the photos as 'obscene' and questioned whether the spotting was indicative of the supermarket chain as a whole or just his local store
'This is a shame but it is us the consumers who have made this issue, by not wanting to see understocked shelves and more range of food,' one person wrote.
A Coles spokeswoman said the major supermarket was committed to redistributing unsold food to community organisations.
'Coles is committed to supporting local communities and we currently have 95 per cent of our supermarkets and 100 per cent of our distribution centres connected to either SecondBite or FoodBank,' she said.
'These relationships facilitate the supply to 1,300 different community organisations.'
In 2018, the supermarket chain donated the equivalent of over 20million meals to the two charities.
The Coles Balaclava store has donated 7,567 kilograms to SecondBite, equivalent of over 15,000 meals, since the beginning of the year.
The store also has an organic waste bin where it has diverted over 6,000 kilograms of food waste to local facilities for composting, the spokeswoman said.
A Coles spokeswoman said the major supermarket was committed to providing unsold food to community organisations
The spokeswoman said Coles was looking for solutions to ensure their unsold food was always redistributed
The spokeswoman said Coles was looking for solutions to ensure their unsold food was always redistributed.
'Food rescue has first priority for unsold, edible food from our stores, with the food rescue organisations preference being fresh and grocery products,' the spokeswoman said.
'We are developing a range of options in cases where they cannot take bread, such as working with farmers and stock feed providers to create animal feed.
'We are also building relationships with composting and waste-to-energy facilities to take organic waste, not suitable for our charity partners, to divert it from landfill.
Coles has also committed to halve food waste in their supermarkets by 2020 by donating unsold edible food to people most in need and diverting other food waste to animal feed, clean energy and compost.
According to Second Bite, about 3.6million Australians per year are unable to afford enough food to feed themselves or their families.
Comments 0
Share what you think
No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards.
