It has gotten dark outside, and the autumn cold has just begun to bite the nose. Morten Haldrup Jensen puts on disposable gloves and a headlamp. Then he goes purposefully towards the rubbish bins behind a grocery store somewhere in Kristiansand. But he won’t reveal exactly where. The shop is closed, but the food bin is open. He is there on one’s errand to “dumpster dive”. – The food I find in the rubbish makes up the main part of what we eat at home. Not because I have to, but because I can. The treasure hunt embellishes the family economy The phenomenon of “dumpster diving” is about finding usable things that others have thrown away. Jensen has worked as a cook for 22 years, but is now disabled. Although the family of five is fine without what he finds in the trash, there are clear advantages to it. – A reduced food budget leaves room for taking the family on trips more often. A quick calculation from Jensen shows that the family saves around NOK 5,000 a month. This corresponds to NOK 65,000 a year. He himself believes that what he finds in the cans would cost NOK 10,000 a month if he had bought it in the shop. The day after news was with Jensen on the dumpster diving, he frolics in the kitchen. Apple and nectarine jam, chicken in curry and hazelnut macaroons with white chocolate are made. Food waste’s Robin Hood The winter half-year is best suited for dumpster diving. The summer heat makes food inedible quite quickly. Dumpster diving is illegal, but Jensen is willing to break the law because he believes the value of saving food is more important. – I thought it was terrible that so much food was thrown away. Much of that could have been saved if we had a different piece of legislation. Jensen started the Facebook group Dumpster divers Agder a few years ago. Recently, the group has gained more and more members. He believes increased food prices are the reason. – So far I have had 25-30 new ones come out to show them this. Kristoffer Tvilde has written the Sparekokeboka. There he tells how much the family can save by dumpster diving, while doing something good for the environment. – Among students, it has become more and more accepted, and many do it regularly as a cost-saving measure. This probably has a lot to do with increased rental prices, electricity and food. Should be legislated Around a third of all food produced in the world is lost or thrown away. Eyvind Danielsen is Agder’s local team leader for the Future in our hands. They work for more ethical and environmentally friendly consumption. One of the areas they work on is sustainable food. – We are working hard to get a food waste law in place in Norway, so that food waste is reduced. We have received 25,000 signatures on this, says Eyvind Danielsen in Fremtiden i våre hands. In just one day, up to 40,000 bananas can be thrown from the shops. The future in our hands believes it is time to get the regulations in place. Danielsen thought it was wrong that so much food goes in the trash. – It’s a shame, because this food could feed an incredible number of people. If you take all the edible food that is thrown away in Norway every year, you could feed a small continent. Eyvind Danielsen has found several packages of wallets. Maybe he’ll be lucky and find some wiener sausages as well. Photo: Ina Marie Sigurdsen / news The stores are closing their systems to a greater extent. That makes it more difficult for Jensen and other junk divers, says Danielsen. – Unfortunately, it has become more and more limited where it is possible to do dumpster diving. Possible to reach the target Norgesgruppen owns a large portion of the grocery chains in Norway. They cannot answer how each individual store is run. But they write in an e-mail that they have worked systematically to reduce food waste over many years. – We are well on our way to achieving our goal of reducing food waste by 55 per cent by 2025, writes communications manager Kine Søyland. Compared to 2015, food waste has been cut by 36 per cent. Some of the measures have been price reductions for food products that are approaching their use-by date, and the flow of goods between production and sale. – In addition, we donate surplus food to actors such as Kirkens Bymisjon, collaborate with the Too good too go app and have introduced a shelf life date in the barcode.
ttn-69
Where others see garbage, Morten sees a goldmine – news Sørlandet – Local news, TV and radio
