>> This is "Marketplace".
Dumpster diving.
>> Okay, this will disgust some
people, but --
>> What your supermarket
doesn't want you to see.
>> This is a whole lot of food.
>> Canadians trash 31 billion
dollars worth of food a year
from big box stores,
to your shopping cart.
>> I'm just going to throw it
out for you in advance.
>> No, no, no.
>> Why is seemingly good food
been thrown out in the garbage?
>> This is your "Marketplace".
>> We're gearing up,
tackling a global problem.
You know, I usually don't have
to wear this to go
grocery shopping.
>> There is a first time
for everything.
>> Okay, let's give it a go.
>> Taking you behind one of the
largest grocery chains
in the country.
>> Okay, we got a lot
of bins there.
>> See what's inside.
>> In Canada alone we throw
out $31 billion worth of food
each year.
We're investigating how much
of that ends up trashed behind
big stores like Wal-Mart.
Parmasan cheese, this is four
months to go.
Four months till its best
before date.
All right, best before date,
salad, still three days
from now.
At this store just outside
Toronto, we find 12 bins full
of food.
And most of it still looks
good to eat.
>> David, take a look at this.
Packaged cauliflower.
Not even past the best
before date.
>> This is just one visit.
So is this unusual?
Or the norm?
>> David, these dark sweet
cherries, they're frozen,
check out the best before date,
March 23rd, 2018.
>> So it's almost two more
years it could still be
on the shelves.
So I've pulled this celery
out of a package.
Give you an idea of how
bad it is.
Listen.
Like that's, when it makes that
sound -- 
>> It's crunchy.
>> We visit this Wal-Mart over
a dozen times.
Day after day, we find
everything from produce to
baked goods, dairy products.
Even frozen foods.
Not even in the compost.
Just straight into the garbage.
Why is so much seemingly good
food going to waste?
Maybe Wal-Mart has
a good explanation.
Time to reach out and ask them.
While we wait for their
response, I'm heading
to Edmonton, Alberta.
You're saying the truck comes
every day to empty these?
>> Every day.
>> To meet up with a former
Wal-Mart manager.
He is going public because
he doesn't agree with Walmart's
food waste policies.
>> How much food are you
throwing out in a given
shift then?
>> I would say at a daily
average, a shopping cart
goes to waste.
>> A shopping cart worth
of food.
>> Yeah.
>> Ali Zain Mevawala worked at
this location for almost a year.
What were you thinking when you
were throwing away a grocery
cart full of food on a shift?
>> Um, I really felt bad
because I know a lot of people
in the city or in this country,
even in this whole world,
they don't even get to eat
proper food.
>> What happens to an apple
or a vegetable that is
a bit bruised?
>> I have to throw it.
>> And that was a policy that
you understood when you worked
at this Wal-Mart?
>> That's correct.
>> Ali Zain is not alone.
We talk to Wal-Mart insiders
from across the country who say
throwing out shopping carts
of food is common practice.
To see if that's true,
we're checking out another
Wal-Mart store.
All right, here's some bins.
Yeah, here we go.
>> Packaged produce.
This is fresh corn on the cob.
There is nothing wrong with it.
>> Lots of good food here, too.
Okay, this will disgust
some people, but --
this is still good.
>> Oh, I can't believe you
did that!
>> Still good.
In Canada, we waste billions
of dollars worth of food
every year.
What goes through your mind
when you hear that?
Billions of dollars.
>> That is a lot, a lot of
money, and a lot of food.
I'm from Pakistan.
There is a lot of people that
don't have enough food to eat.
So I guess we're lucky that
we're having so much food here
and we're wasting it.
>> After several E-mails and
phone calls to Wal-Mart, they
still won't talk on camera.
But after we tell them what we
found in their trash bins?
They do take some action.
Check out what they have done.
At the stores where we told
them about all that food waste,
well, those bins, they are now
behind lock and key.
We did get a message from
Wal-Mart and they said the food
we found was unsafe for
consumption and add that
they're working to reduce how
much is thrown out.
They tell us these bins are
typically locked to prevent
access to product that's unsafe.
But then, why weren't they
locked up when we were
here before?
So, what's happening
at other retailers?
Well, we just don't know
because they have got these
sealed compactors and we can't
see inside.
We're starting to get a sense
of the problem here in Canada.
But it's even bigger in the U.S.
with 70 billion pounds of food
wasted each year.
So I'm travelling to Orlando,
Florida to meet up with a guy
who is doing something about it.
Meet activist Rob Greenfield.
I got my go-pro camera here so
that we can get a look inside
that dumpster if we have
to climb in.
He is passionate about
not wasting.
And has become an expert
dumpster diver.
Today we're tagging along
to find out how much good food
we can find behind various
grocery stores.
>> Oh, that looks like a whole
entire box full of food there.
There is natural white
cheddar cheese.
I think we are just maybe
hitting the tip of the
iceberg here.
It looks like there might be
quite a bit.
>> Rob's visited about 2,000
grocery stores across the U.S.,
collecting food that's still
good to eat.
>> This is a whole bag
of salads.
>> Still cool.
>> Flowers.
I don't know if we need
the flowers.
>> I don't know.
My anniversary's coming up.
That might not work out.
We have just started and
already collected enough
to make a meal.
>> All right, put it in the van.
You are diving into dumpsters.
It sounds a little extreme.
>> Yes.
What I do is actually
quite extreme.
We've got quite a bit of food
in here.
>> Nearly 1.3 billion tonnes
of food is trashed worldwide
each year.
>> These bags, a lot of time
they'll be one bad potato in
a five or ten pound bag, so they
throw away the whole thing.
It's being wasted from the
farms to the distribution
centres, to the grocery stores,
restaurants, catering programs,
to the individuals at home,
it is being wasted everywhere,
and so the entire system of food
and the amount of food being
wasted is a complete fiasco.
>> Now, on a very hot day,
time for a taste test.
This is basically still good.
Still fine.
>> Yeah.
All right, well it is right now
about 80,000° so that feels
pretty good.
We decide to check out Wal-Mart
to see if they are wasting food
here in the U.S. too.
>> That is a whole lot of food.
>> Yeah, boy, is it ever.
There is eggs and apples and
cantaloupe and bagels and
everything's loose.
But we can't go any further.
The bins, they are locked.
This seasoned dumpster diver
has seen it all.
So when we show him what we
found at some Wal-Mart stores
in Canada?
What do you think of what
we found?
>> It's crazy amount of
perfectly good food.
And it's amazing because
I watch that and I'm blown away,
because that could have been
in a shopping cart
or in someone's pantry.
It's absolutely wrong.
I don't think in any advanced
society there should be people
that are hungry while there is
food that was still good that's
going to waste.
One box.
>> After six hours of dumpster
diving in Orlando,
our van is full of food.
And Rob wants to show it off,
to prove a point.
Okay, so should we start
with fruits?
>> Let's, yeah, let's make the
melon the centre.
>> With the help of Rob's
friends we're putting together
a large food waste display.
>> What's next?
Candy.
Mmm, that stuff looks good.
>> Okay, we laid it all out.
Now what?
>> Now, this food is for
the taking.
Anybody who walks by and is
interested and wants to get
talking can take it home
with them.
>> Rob says grocery stores
should donate good food to
those who need it,
food banks or shelters.
But we're told that would cost
more money.
It's cheaper just to throw
it away.
It sounds like it's one
extra step.
It is a bit more difficult for
grocery store to do that.
>> It is.
>> Rather than to throw it in
the garbage.
>> It is.
It's one extra step.
It takes a little bit
more effort.
But I believe that in an
advanced society like the
United States or Canada, that
if there is people in need that
we should take that extra step
and help them.
>> You got it.
Nice catch.
With hundreds of millions of
people going hungry each year,
it is easy to see how much
of a difference that extra
step would make.
>> We just have so many hungry
people, and it's just
ridiculous to see all this food
that's wasted.
>> After weeks of sending
E-mails and making phone calls
to Wal-Mart, we still don't
really have the answers that
we need.
So there's really only one
thing left for us to do.
With video footage in hand,
we're going to the store.
You can't afford to miss this.
Get more "Marketplace".
Sign up for our weekly
newsletter at
cbc.ca/marketplace.
>> Taking on food waste.
This is your "Marketplace".
>> After months of research,
and more than a dozen separate
dives into Wal-Mart's waste,
we've found it all.
Yogurt, poultry, baked goods,
frozen dinners, even juices.
>> The best before date is
almost two months away.
And it's sealed.
>> Perfectly edible food.
All of it.
Trashed.
We've asked Wal-Mart several
times to talk to us on camera,
but they say no.
So now, we're going into the
store where we found all that
good food to get some answers.
Surely, the store manager
can explain.
Hello, how are you?
>> I'm good.
How are you?
>> I'm David with CBC
"Marketplace".
We're here because several
times, in fact, more than a
dozen times, we've actually
gone to the bins behind this
store and we've found good food
in those bins.
Why is seemingly good food
being thrown out in
the garbage?
>> So I'm going to call my
office, if you could just give
me a few minutes.
>> But you're the store
manager here.
>> Yes.
So we do have a reduce program
that we use and our food goes
to the waste program.
So I'll just be a couple
minutes and I'll be right back.
>> Sebastian Vella says he
needs to call head office.
So we wait.
And wait.
Finally he comes back.
We just don't understand why
there is food that seems like
it's still good for sale,
that's before its best before
date, that looks like it's okay.
I mean, some of it is water.
How does water ever go bad?
>> Right, so I do have their
number at the office and they
can help you out with that.
>> And what about those bins
that are now locked up behind
the store?
When we first started looking
it wasn't locked up and then
after we let Wal-Mart head
office know we, what we'd found,
it was suddenly locked up.
>> Right, so like I said, I
don't have any answers for you.
I'm not the right person.
>> Okay.
You don't have any answers.
Thank you for your time.
>> And you don't have my
approval to tape me.
>> No answers inside the store.
So outside, we're putting
together our own food
waste display.
Showing shoppers what we found
behind their Wal-Mart.
Attention Wal-Mart shoppers,
would you like to see how much
food is being thrown out in
this one store?
>> I think it's terrible.
Why aren't they giving it to
shelters or to people that are
begging for food on the street
and will work for food?
It's disgusting.
>> A woman's shelter, whatever.
I think it's terrible.
>> Well, it is unnecessary,
absolutely.
>> We tried to get Wal-Mart
now to answer the question
about why.
And they didn't answer us.
When you don't get answers,
what do you make of that?
>> Well, if I was asking that
question and I wasn't being
answered, I would think that
they don't care.
And I feel almost bad having
come out of there.
>> This is Alex.
>> Hi, Alex.
This is David Common with CBC
"Marketplace", calling.
So after months and months
of trying to get an on
camera interview --
>> One-third of all food...
>> CBC investigation has
discovered --
>> It's only after our story
hits the news that
Wal-Mart agree.
So I came to Vancouver to meet
with Alex Roberton, senior
director of corporate affairs.
We found quite a bit of food
waste over many days behind
many Wal-Marts.
Is this something Wal-Mart
wants to change?
>> Absolutely, absolutely, yeah.
We want zero good food going
into landfill.
We want zero good food
going to waste.
We want to donate as much
as we can.
We want to sell as much
as we can.
>> Are you going to take steps
to make sure that happens?
>> We are.
Over the past 12 months,
we've really been ramping up our
efforts to address food waste.
>> What I don't understand is
how you could have so many bins
out the back of multiple
stores, day after day after
day, that are full of seemingly
good food.
You can't have that
much returned.
>> For sure, there is mistakes
that are being made and that's
one of the things we need to do
is tighten up the execution of
our instore processes so that
the food going into the bins, we
need to be more certain that
that is food that needs to be
thrown out.
>> You get that food waste
is a problem, and you're
a part of that problem.
>> Exactly, yeah.
I think we feel that we're on
the right track.
We have a lot of work to do to
get where we want to be.
>> Can we come back and check
in with you?
>> Absolutely, I wish you
would, yeah.
>> In Canada, we leave it up to
supermarkets like Wal-Mart to
police their own food waste.
But other countries have
taken action.
France recently banned
food waste.
Requiring supermarkets to give
it to local charities
and shelters.
Italy offers a tax break to
grocers who do that.
Some U.S. states have also
taken action.
What's Canada gonna do?
Well, we're going to ask the
federal minister of agriculture.
Morning, minister, David with
CBC "Marketplace".
Good to meet you.
>> Good to say hello.
>> Currently, there is no
policy to address food waste in
Canada but Lawrence MacCauley
says that could change.
Other countries have already
adopted food policies,
particularly around food waste.
Why has Canada not done
something like that yet?
>> We think it's important to
do, it was in my mandate and we
are going to do it.
>> I want to give you the
opportunity to just acknowledge
that food waste is an issue,
if you so believe it.
>> Oh, I believe that food
waste will be looked at in the
policy when we -- 
>> Is it a problem in Canada?
I mean, is it something that
needs to be addressed?
>> Well, what we want to do
is to address the total food
policy issue in this country.
>> So Canada is not cracking
down on supermarket waste, yet.
When we showed Canadians what
we found behind stores, they
said that should be illegal.
>> Obviously what you're
earmarking is obviously
a problem, if there is food out
there that's wasted.
>> Do you think it's time for
the Government of Canada to
take a stand on this?
>> We will come up with a
national food policy, hopefully
that will be very helpful to
the consumer and the producer,
and everybody else in between.
>> MacCaulay says it will be
another year before his food
policy comes out.
Until then, Canada is still
way behind.
>> The biggest wasters of all?
You!
This is what you are
throwing out.
Boom.
>> Well, my heart is racing,
because I feel like it's so
expensive and wasteful.
>> Now we are thinking.
>> This is your "Marketplace".
>> Time to face what's in
your trash.
We've gone through the garbages
in grocery stores.
Now it's time to take a bin
into a store to challenge
customers to see what it is
that they are buying and what
they throw out.
Every year Canadians toss out
more than $14 billion worth
of food at home.
Food waste happens
in a lot of places.
Does it happen in your home?
>> Yeah, I waste a bit of food
for sure.
>> Turns out, we all throw out
one in five bags of the
groceries we buy.
Why?
Chances are we're buying way
more than we need.
What do you have in your bag?
I don't want you to panic about
what I'm about to do.
We have a compost bin here,
and I'm just going to throw
it out for you in advance.
>> No, no.
That's all right.
>> So I'm showing shoppers what
typically ends up in green bins.
And what they can do to reduce
their waste.
Your broccoli, any sense of how
much of that usually gets
thrown out?
About 25%.
>> I picked that.
That was really nice broccoli!
>> That was a really nice
broccoli, yeah.
>> The thing about tomatoes
is you got the wrong guy here
so I really like tomatoes, a lot
I'm like obsessed with them,
so I'm gonna eat them like fast.
>> You like them enough that
you've put them on your body.
>> Yeah, those are going quick.
>> Okay.
Well let me try to horrify you
if you were like most Canadians
who don't have a tattoo of
tomatoes, this is what you are
throwing out.
Boom.
You look uncomfortable.
>> I am uncomfortable.
>> But we're just doing what
statistics tell us Canadians do.
In fact, about half of the food
we throw out at home?
Fruits and vegetables.
Hey, where are those
strawberries?
They look great, don't they?
>> I picked the best ones!
>> They look really good.
>> Well, my heart is racing
because I feel like it's so
expensive and wasteful.
>> Okay, so regular, almond
milk, we throw out 15%.
If you're the average Canadian
family you're gonna throw
that out.
>> Wow.
That's crazy.
>> Okay, so if I pull your
bananas here there is six
of them.
The average Canadian wastes one
and a 1/4 of them.
>> Oh really.
>> When you walk into a grocery
store and you have a guy at the
check out throwing your food
out, what's going through
your mind?
>> I just threw away money.
>> Some uncomfortable
moments there.
People had no idea we are going
to be tossing their food
like that.
But in a way, we're just doing
what people would end up doing
themselves in their own homes.
So we're going on
a neighbourhood spot-check.
In Brampton, Ontario.
Meet Owen, Irene and Gord Moss.
Like many families, when it
comes to food waste, they think
they are doing a good job.
Do you think you're any more or
any less than anyone else?
>> I think we are pretty
well average.
>> Let's take a peek.
How much of what we see in here
gets thrown out?
>> I would, on a percentage
basis, I would say probably
20 to 25%.
>> For the Moss family, that
means $1,000 of groceries
tossed each year.
And that's on par with the
average family in this country.
What do you guys think about
how much food is wasted by
people just like you?
>> Well, I think it's
a disgrace.
We should value food a lot
better than we do.
>> We've talked to the Moss
family about how much they
throw out.
But it makes you wonder how
much food waste we all produce.
After all, almost half of it
takes place in our own homes.
So we're taking them on a field
trip to a nearby waste facility
so we can see just how much is
being tossed on a daily basis.
All right.
So here it is.
>> Wow, wow, that's incredible.
>> Pretty stinky.
>> They're shocked.
And this is only food waste.
From a couple of neighbourhoods,
over a few hours.
Believe it or not, this is just
a couple of trucks.
And those trucks come
constantly all day.
Behind us is a room full
of this.
It's a football field size.
There is 2,000 tonnes of mostly
food waste in there.
>> Incredible.
>> For safety reasons,
we're not allowed in there.
>> We take a lot for granted.
We really do.
It's just available.
So you just buy it.
If you don't want it,
you throw it out.
>> But now we're thinking.
>> Yeah, we sure are.
>> And that's the idea.
Think before you buy.
Think before you waste.
Whether you're a family
or a big retailer.
Okay, now you've seen it.
Now you've smelled it.
Let's get out of here.
>> Great.
Thanks for having us.
>> Next week on "Marketplace".
House hunting under cover.
Real estate agents caught
on camera.
>> I can coach you kind of,
what price to put.
>> We would have loved to know
what the number was.
>> Breaking the rules.
>> Their offer is $890 with
another agent.
>> We'd be looking for
maximum penalties.
>> Secret deals, broken dreams.
>> We decided it was the
perfect house for us.
