Dumpster divers stop butter waste

Joan McDonald. Photo / Otago Daily Times

They're a bit like Robin Hood but take from the wasteful and give to the less fortunate.

A group of dumpster divers found about 100kg of butter in a skip outside a Dunedin supermarket this week and have been sharing the wealth with those in need.

One of the dumpster divers, who wanted to remain anonymous, believed the butter was dumped after Fonterra recalled two of its butter products which were found to have metal objects in them.

The recall was for Mainland Salted Butter 500g with a best-before date of January 10, 2013 (Batch CV12), and Anchor Salted Butter 500g with a best-before date of January 26, 2013 (Batch CV28).

Fonterra Brands managing director Peter McClure said the recall was a precaution but products should not be eaten.

Customers were asked to return the products to the place of purchase with the appropriate packaging for a full refund.

Rather than let the butter be dumped in landfill, the dumpster divers dispatched it to anyone who wanted it, with a warning about the risk of eating the product.

"We have a very inefficient food production system that creates a lot of waste," said the dumpster diver.

"It's the sort of waste that would have horrified the [World War II] generation, and which now horrifies my generation - an environmentally conscious generation."

Dunedin resident Joan McDonald, 57, was delighted when she found one of the divers had put six packets of the product in her mailbox.

She said there was nothing wrong with it and she had already used one packet to bake a batch of biscuits, a cake, some muffins and some pineapple tarts.

"It costs $6 a pound. Throwing it away is waste of the worst kind. I had to stop baking because butter cost so much."

She was far from worried about where the butter came from, because it was being used solely for baking: "200C will kill anything it catches in a dumpster.

"I think we should be given a choice about having access to it. If you let us buy it, people will buy it."