Make Woolworths Honour Its Food Waste Promise

We’re calling on the Woolworths Board to take action — stop dumping edible food and honour your own waste policy!

Across Australia, Woolworths stores are routinely dumping perfectly edible food — loaves of bread, packaged goods, and fresh produce — straight into bins that are often locked to prevent public access. This food ends up in landfill instead of being donated or composted.

On 25 October 2025, large amounts of edible food were found discarded behind the Brunswick, Melbourne store by Sahar Khalili, whose activism has gained national attention read more here - https://au.news.yahoo.com/aussie-woman-who-hasnt-paid-for-groceries-in-four-years-never-eaten-better-224924119.html?guccounter=1 

This is just one example of a problem happening nationwide, every single day. Sahar aims to make this publicly known in her community, so that her local store can be held to account. However, this issue isn't isolated to just Brunswick — it is happening across the country, at the expense of lost opportunities for our communities, increasing pressure on landfills, and causing avoidable harm to our environment.

 

 

This widespread food waste directly contradicts Woolworths’ own “Reducing Hunger and Food Waste” policy — see full policy here: https://www.woolworthsgroup.com.au/au/en/our-impact/sustainability/Planet/food-waste.html

Despite these commitments, stores across the country are discarding food (and locking bins!) that could have been safely been given back to communities across Australia, repurposed, or composted — showing a serious gap between corporate promises and on-the-ground reality.

 

 

What Woolworths Promises

Woolworths’ public sustainability statement includes commitments such as:

“Our goal is reducing hunger and food waste.”
“No edible food goes to landfill.”
“All edible food is redirected through our food rescue partners.”
“Food that can’t be shared is processed into compost and fertiliser.”

Despite these claims, stores across the country are discarding food that could have been safely donated, repurposed, or composted. This shows a serious gap between corporate promises and on-the-ground reality.

 

 

Why It Matters
Food waste is one of Australia’s biggest environmental and ethical challenges. When food breaks down in landfill, it releases methane — a greenhouse gas 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Meanwhile, millions of Australians are struggling to put food on the table.

Dumping edible food while people go hungry isn’t just unsustainable — it’s unacceptable.

The Law Supports Food Donation
Under the Civil Liability Amendment (Food Donations) Act 2005, businesses are protected from liability when donating food in good faith — as long as it’s safe to eat at the time of donation. More details are here https://www.foodwise.com.au/foodwaste/business-food-waste/legalities-of-donating-food-to-charity/

This means Woolworths can safely donate unsold but edible food to community organisations, neighbourhood houses, or food pantries without legal risk. Locking bins and sending food to landfill goes directly against both the intent of these laws and Woolworths’ own public commitments.

 
What We’re Asking For
We call on Woolworths Group to:

• End the practice of locking food bins — instead, provide clearly marked “edible food recovery bins” accessible to the public at their own risk.
• Ensure every store has active, monitored partnerships with food rescue organisations, and regularly verify compliance.
• Install or expand commercial composting systems at all stores — especially in urban areas where organic waste services are available.
• Partner with local community pantries, neighbourhood houses, and mutual aid groups to share unsellable but edible food.
• Publish transparent, store-level data on food rescue, waste diversion, and composting progress.
   
  Together We Can Change This

Woolworths calls itself “Today’s Fresh Food People.” But fresh food doesn’t belong in a dumpster.

By living up to their own policy and acting within existing food donation laws, Woolworths can help reduce hunger, cut greenhouse emissions, and lead real change in how supermarkets handle surplus food.

 

 

 

Sign and share this petition to hold Woolworths accountable — and to demand real, measurable action on food waste across Australia.