[
>> David: So we've got quite a bit of food in here.
We're back on the case.
>> Packaged cauliflower.
Not even past the best before date.
>> David: Investigating how much food's getting trashed
behind big stores like Walmart.
One year later, have they cleaned up their act?
For Walmart, whose responsibility is this to
try to reduce food waste?
>> Well it's our responsibility.
>> David: After our story airs, these kids take action.
>> There's so many people without food and they're
throwing it out.
>> I want it to be fixed.
>> David: Talking trash...
Only on your Marketplace.
[ ♪♪♪ ]
>> David: After months of research and more than a dozen
separate dives into Walmart'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.
>> David: Perfectly edible food.
All of it...trashed.
Last year we asked Walmart spokesperson Alex Roberton
why this was happening.
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's mistakes that are being made and that's
one of the things that we need to do is tighten up the
execution of our in store processes so that food
that is going into the bins, we need to be more certain that
that is food that needs to be thrown out.
>> David: You get that food waste is a problem,
and that 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 to where we want to be.
>> David: Can we come back and check in with you?
>> Yeah, absolutely.
I wish you would, yeah.
>> David: So now, we're taking him up on that offer.
[ ♪♪♪ ]
>> David: We're going back to Walmart to ask...
What's changed since last year?
Hey, Alex.
>> Hey, David, nice to see you again.
>> David: It's been a year since our story first broadcast..
>> Food waste by large retailers.
>> David Common goes dumpster diving.
>> David: ..and we heard a lot from you...
And many of you took your concerns right to Walmart.
>> It's a lot of the same questions that you are asking
what-- what can we do about food waste?
>> David: What's changed since the last time we talked?
>> what you're seeing in this store here is what the evolution
is of a Walmart Supercentre and so we've redesigned what the
Supercentre looks like and how it operates and how we
process food.
So what you're seeing here is eventually what we're going to
roll out to our stores across the country.
>> David: That includes a new cold room to keep produce
fresh longer.
[ ♪♪♪ ]
>> David:And through this door...
>> This is our prep room.
>> David: Yeah.
>> This is where we process food that's been put on discount.
>> David: More stores are now doing markdowns like this...
This is food that's approaching its best before date?
>> That's right.
It's approaching-- it's getting close to its peak freshness.
But it's not expired so it's still good quality food,
but it might not get sold unless we discount it.
So we make it more available for customers so that it doesn't
wind up becoming waste.
>> David: Right.
Plus, there's a new procedure, rolling out across the country,
targeting a big source of waste.
When just one piece of produce in a bigger package goes bad.
So this-- all of this would have been apples that
were in a bag, but maybe one of them was bad?
>> That's right.
>> David: And now, you're going to do what with them?
>> So what we do with these is we'll package them together
and make a different bag of assorted produce items.
>> David: But sell it for less?
>> And sell it for less.
And we bring them out to a cart like this here.
>> David: Oh, so here's one right here.
>> So you'll get, uh, how many apples do we have here,
7 apples?
For a dollar.
Which is a great value for customers.
>> David: Indeed it is popular with customers,
but most of Walmart's stores aren't yet like this.
When we spoke to Walmart, the bins of tossed food were
still locked up at the stores we looked at.
>> So those bins are there to collect food that has gone
past its expiration date or where there's any safety
concern whatsoever.
The fact is there's always going to be some food waste and we're
trying to minimize that food waste as much as possible.
>> David: Where is Walmart now focusing its food
saving efforts?
>> On reducing the waste.
We want to sell as much as we can and then whatever doesn't
get sold we want to donate as much of that as possible.
So the ultimate goal, at the end of the day, is to have as
much food that we purchase as possible to be consumed
by somebody.
>> David: And for Walmart, whose responsibility is this to
try to reduce food waste?
>> Well, it's our responsibility,
the food that we buy and we try to process it as best we can.
So there's as little waste as possible at the end of
the chain.
>> David: Like, you're trying to get your own house in order?
>> That's right.
>> David: Walmart is feeling the pressure and nationwide,
it's starting to change.
>> In the last year since you guys visited us,
we've reduced our overall food waste, so the food that you
see in the bins, by 20 percent.
>> David: Though we can't verify it, 20 percent is a big change.
Thousands of kilograms that's being saved.
And in just the year since we went diving through
Walmart's dumpsters.
Is the job done?
>> No, we still have more to do.
And we're continuing working on our programs,
working on our training in stores.
And that's also delivering good results.
>> David: In Canada, we leave it up to supermarkets like Walmart
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 US states have also taken action.
In Canada, though, there is no federal policy to
deal with food waste.
Last year we asked Minister Of Agriculture, Laurence Macaulay,
why we're so far behind.
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
frame when we--
>> David: 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.
>> David: The feds are now working on a new food policy.
40,000 Canadians have given their input and many say food
waste should be a priority.
The government, though, hasn't done anything yet.
We'll have to wait till next year,
when the new policy is expected.
But these kids can't wait.
>> There's people who don't have enough food to eat.
>> David: They saw a need and are now fighting for change.
>> Hello, Mr Chair and councillors.
>> David: Hear their story next, only on your Marketplace.
Got a story you think we should investigate?
Email us at...
>> David: Talking trash, on your Marketplace.
Four months until it's best before date.
Marketplace found full bins of seemingly good food
being tossed at multiple stores.
All right, here's some bins.
And our original story was watched in classrooms
across Canada.
Dozens of teachers got in touch with us and many students were
motivated to act.
Including in Millgrove, Ontario.
>> Okay, so what'd you think of that?
>> Bad.
>> Horrible.
>> Disgusting.
>> They went all across the country and found stores that
were doing this.
>> It's really bad.
>> There's so many people without food and they're
throwing it out.
>> David: Now, the grade two to five kids weren't just going to
watch and forget.
So here's where things get amazing.
>> They were so angry and so passionate.
And they knew right away that they needed to do something to
fix it.
>> David: Jennifer Kershawe is their teacher.
>> The kids gave up two recesses and lunches a week since January
for five or six months to work on this.
>> David: Step one.
After school, kids like Maya go to stores themselves.
Ask managers when and why food is thrown out.
[ ♪♪♪ ]
>> Why would they do that?
Like, there's people that don't have enough food to eat.
>> David: All right, here's some bins.
Then, they remember something from our story.
>> This is fresh corn on the cob.
There's nothing wrong with it.
>> David: Okay, this will disgust some people but...
..those are still good.
>> I can't believe you did that!
>> David: They're still good.
>> The guy in the movie thingy, he ate the blueberries.
Nothing's wrong with him.
>> Most of that stuff is still good to eat.
>> David: So they tried a little in-class experiment.
>> We brought food in and it was past the best before date.
And three weeks after, then it started to mould.
>> David: By now, the kids are telling others.
Creating their own presentation and forging a plan to make their
community a better place.
[ ♪♪♪ ]
>> David: They go door to door gathering more than 1500
signatures on a petition and then head to
city hall...with a plan.
>> They decided it would be great if Hamilton would have a
cold storage truck to pick up the food from the grocery stores
and deliver it directly to the food banks.
>> Hello Mr Chair and councillors, we are here...
>> David: But this is no fluffy field trip.
The kids came prepared.
Here's Gabe...
>> 18 percent of Hamilton lives in poverty.
That's about 96,000 of us that need help getting food
on the table.
A grocery store throws out 30-45 large bins of perfectly edible
food each week and all these people need help getting food.
Why can't that food go on their tables and not in the landfill?
>> David: Next up, Elana...
>> Our project would empower all citizens especially those trying
to get back on their feet.
One of the reasons that grocery stores aren't donating
right now, is because they're worried about donating
their short dated food because they're worried that at the food
banks it's not going to get handled properly and someone
could get sick.
So how are we going to fund this?
Money from the waste management budget because waste diversion
does fall under that topic.
[ Applause ]
>> David: The mayor seems almost stunned...
>> Not only well presented, but they have a business plan
to boot.
>> David: And he agrees with them.
>> This is certainly an issue that's worthy of not
only exploration, but implementation,
I would think.
>> David: The kids could be getting a city truck to collect
food that stores are about to throw away and bring it to those
who can use it.
Council is going to revisit the class' request in December.
They even get a response from grocery chain Sobey's,
that the class' idea would be a perfect fit
for their local store.
Just done the big presentation.
How do you think it went?
>> I think it went great.
They said that they are going to put food recovery and waste
diversion in the food strategy plan.
>> David: You know Elana, we have done a lot of work
at Marketplace trying to help people understand this issue.
And you really understand it and you've done even more work
than we did, so it's so great to see that.
Congratulations. >> Thank you.
>> David: Do you think something's going to change?
>> I think a lot of things will.
I want it to be fixed.
It needs to be better, and if that ever happens we'd be a role
model for all of the world.
>> David: Good stuff, fella.
Good kid.
[ ♪♪♪ ]
>> David: Left to our own devices.
>> David: You are constantly engaged to click on that
Twitter queue, or your email, the pressure to kind of go back
and forth.
But how much control do we really have?
>> It's just addictive, yeah.
>> David: Playing all those apps.
>> Wake up Samsung.
Samsung go to school.
>> He seems to prefer being on his tablet over everything else.
>> David: Or maybe they're playing us.
>> They need your eyeballs locked in that app.
They're all in a technological arms race
to keep you there the longest.
>> David: It's a real world experiment.
And as we discover, no one's figured out the risk of all
those rewards.
[ ♪♪♪ ]