This dumpster diving grandma is saving waste and feeding the needy

Julianne Brady is a dumpster-diving ‘freegan’, and proud of it. The Queensland grandma is making a point about consumerism by rescuing and distributing food she salvages from supermarket bins.

Between the paddock and the plate (if it even makes it that far), one-third of the food produced for Australians is wasted.

Most waste occurs in the early stages of food production but retail waste would shock and disgust most of us.

But then, so too would the idea of salvaging that food once it’s hit the bin.
"The food I eat is in plastic bags, and ten minutes before I come and pick it up, it was sitting on the top shelf.”
Julianne Brady has a higher yuck tolerance than most. “The misconceptions are that you’d only dumpster dive if you were desperate, says Julianne, “and that the bins are full of maggots. The food I eat is in plastic bags, and ten minutes before I come and pick it up, it was sitting on the top shelf.”

“After all these years, I am still absolutely shocked when I open a bin and it’s full of reusable food,” she says. “You don’t know why the food is thrown out. Sometimes it’s just because they have over-ordered and need to make room for new stock.”
Julianne’s daughter, Skye, used to question her mum’s late-night skirmishes. But when her mum started to bring home the bacon (actually it was Wagyu beef), Skye was won over.  

“We are taught to reduce and reuse all the time. People go to op shops for second-hand clothing, but for whatever reason we are taught not to do that with food. But, if it’s still good, it should go to someone to feed them,” says Skye.

Julianne regularly delivers rescued food to friends and family. She says, “We can’t continually consume and discard as we are doing. I don’t have the power to do a lot, but I do have the power to take that little bit of food out of that bin, and re-use it.”

#TheFeedSBS airs 7.30pm weeknights on SBS VICELAND.
Live Stream | Facebook | Twitter


 


Share
Follow The Feed
Through award winning storytelling, The Feed continues to break new ground with its compelling mix of current affairs, comedy, profiles and investigations. See Different. Know Better. Laugh Harder. Read more about The Feed
Have a story or comment? Contact Us

Through award winning storytelling, The Feed continues to break new ground with its compelling mix of current affairs, comedy, profiles and investigations. See Different. Know Better. Laugh Harder.
Watch nowOn Demand
Follow The Feed
2 min read

Published

Updated

By Marcus Costello, Bridie Meek
Presented by Will Reid

Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world