Members of the Grassroots Action Network Tasmania (GRANT) gathered outside the Moonah Woolworths yesterday to distribute free “rescued” food and goods, aiming to draw public attention to the stark contrast between significant supermarket waste and the deepening cost-of-living crisis in nipaluna/Hobart.
Media release – Grassroots Action Network Tasmania (GRANT), 17 December 2025
GRANT takes food waste crisis to the streets with free ‘rescued food’ pop-up outside Moonah Woolworths
Community members from GRANT spent this afternoon outside Moonah Woolworths giving away reclaimed, “liberated” bin-dived food in an effort to highlight the ongoing food waste crisis in nipaluna/Hobart.
This is not the first time the group has held such an action.
A similar pop-up outside Sandy Bay Woolworths last year saw incredible community engagement, with passers-by leaving with full bags — and a deeper understanding of the scale of supermarket waste in the region.
Despite this growing awareness, little has changed.
Bins across nipaluna, particularly those of the major supermarket duopoly, continue to overflow daily with perfectly edible food and usable goods.
This occurs while many Tasmanians struggle to afford groceries during a worsening cost-of-living crisis.
“As Christmas arrives, it’s important to show up for each other, especially for those struggling to put food on the table. And it’s even better when we can do that by rescuing food and goods that would otherwise be wasted,” said GRANT member Finn Leary.
Bin diving is typically an act carried out in society’s margins — carried out quietly, out of sight, often at night. Today’s action brought the issue into full visibility.
GRANT members handed out a wide array of recovered food and goods collected from Woolworths and Coles waste bins over the past week with items ranging from shampoo, to rows of toblerone, bags of flour and rice, ginger beers, fresh fruit and veg, sourdough bread.
The response was overwhelmingly positive, with many would-be-shoppers happily filling their bags.
Another spokesperson for GRANT, Alex, said the action shows both how much good food is wasted and how broken the food system is — and how sharing that food can be part of the solution.
The action highlights that hunger and food insecurity aren’t caused by a lack of food, but by a system that normalises waste while people go without.
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