Student vows to continue raiding retail rubbish skips

Dunedin student Nick Holmes will not stop taking food and other products from the skips of Dunedin retailers, because he says "waste never stops", and supermarkets will not negotiate with him on how to reduce their waste.

In the Dunedin District Court on Tuesday, Mr Holmes (23) was granted a discharge without conviction on a charge of burgling a supermarket, by Judge John Macdonald.

Mr Holmes and an associate had been caught by police taking food from a skip in an enclosed yard at the back of Woolworths Supermarket, South Dunedin, about 11pm on March 2.

Judge Macdonald said Mr Holmes had already been given diversion for the same offence and if he appeared in court again having done the same thing, he would be convicted.

However, Mr Holmes said he was not scared of being convicted and would continue to collect the waste from retailers and distribute it among friends and the needy.

He believed the only thing a conviction would stop him from doing was international travel - something he did not want to do because of environmental concerns.

After his arrest, he had approached supermarket managers to suggest ways they could reduce their waste.

But none wanted anything to do with it, he said.

He said much of the food disposed of at supermarkets was not out of date; it had just been cleared to make way for newer stock.

He believed New Zealand supermarkets could learn from Europe where supermarkets had computer systems that highlighted when stock was about to go out of date and the stock was either discounted or given to food banks.

It was not only food he found outside supermarkets.

A Dunedin supermarket recently threw out their staff uniforms and Mr Holmes collected 200 woollen jerseys which he distributed among friends.

He also found a jar full of foreign currency which had been thrown out.

It amounted to about $NZ400.

Mr Holmes said he had not shopped legitimately at a supermarket for more than a year, instead relying on food which had been thrown out and shopping at the Otago Farmers Market.

Any spare food he had after feeding himself and his friends, he would take to Dunedin foodbanks.

He said the Presbyterian Support Otago foodbank was where he normally took food.

A Presbyterian Support spokes-woman said they did not inquire about the origin of donated food and Mr Holmes had not identified himself when he had dropped food off.

- sarah.harvey@odt.co.nz