2023-06-20 12:50:59
“Garbage divers have not been convicted until now.”
Jürgen Wulff-Gegenbaur
Waste Service Manager
Discarded goods are usually not abandoned. In Salzburg, they are owned by the city, which takes care of their disposal. However, it is a legal gray area. “If the garbage is in a garbage can, that’s theft at first. However, the question then arises as to whether it’s valuable things that could still be recycled,” says Jürgen Wulff-Gegenbaur, head of the Salzburg Waste Management Service. In principle, therefore, a report can be filed against garbage divers. “It is questionable whether anything will come of it. So far, no one in Austria has been convicted,” said the head of the department.
Artificial intelligence calculates the required amount
Due to the massive price increases for groceries for everyday life, the topic of discarded goods has again come to the fore. At Spar, efforts are being made to avoid excess food. The company has therefore been using artificial intelligence for a year to calculate the required quantities. Spar’s IT team uses this method to analyze all data on sales volumes, weather conditions, special offers, marketing campaigns, seasonality and other factors.
According to her, around one percent of the food cannot be sold. Many goods are made available to the social market. In addition, apps such as “2 good to go” are used, where discounted goods can be picked up within a certain period of time.
Spar tolerates the garbage divers
Basically, Spar has no problem with the garbage divers. “We accept them as long as they don’t damage anything and don’t leave a mess,” says the company spokeswoman. In addition, the garbage rooms will gradually no longer be made accessible to the public. “More and more markets are housed in buildings where this is specified,” says Berkmann.
Garbage diver Markus also confirms this. “It’s getting harder and harder to find markets to shop for groceries in, but there’s still a lot to pick up if you know where to look.” Sometimes he also meets other garbage divers on his tours. “Then it can happen that the ‘booty’ is shared out fairly.”
While Spar shows tolerance for the garbage divers, those responsible at the Rewe Group, to which Billa belongs, among others, have no understanding and speak of a health risk for the garbage divers. “We do not want people to take food from our dumpsters as there are also expired, spoiled or unmarketable items from product recalls that may contain contamination,” the company said in a statement.
27 kilograms per person per year
How much of the still usable food ends up in the garbage was last checked in 2019. In this residual waste analysis of the state of Salzburg, it was found that, seen across the entire state, one sixth of the residual waste was avoidable food waste. This corresponds to around 15,000 tons or 27 kilograms per person per year. “20,000 people could be fed for a year with the food thrown away,” says Jürgen Wulff-Gegenbaur, head of the waste service.
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