I think large supermarkets here still chuck a lot of perfectly good food out.

I've been on both sides of this - I had a brief spell temping at ASDA for a couple of weeks once XMAS and part of my job was to fill the bin up with out of date food - they checked bags on the way out so you couldn't take any! The amount of stuff that got chucked.

I also used to skip dive when I was unemployed - a few times a week, me and my friends must have got about half our food from Sainsbury's skips. One night they put padlocks on, we came back the next night with bolt cutters only to find that some other skip divers had beaten us to it!

I remember halloween being particularly good fun - so many pumpkins in those bins, way too many to carry.

There have been outcries from time to time for supermarkets to cut down their food waste, but i haven't heard much about what they're doing to reduct it recently. I know there are some charities which collect it and cook it to feed those in need, which is very sensible!