Things are a bit different in Australia. Travellers to America have been commenting on the extra large portions for years (my sister & brother in law regularly shared an entree plate when they lived in California in 1989) but we still have a lot of waste here.

Visit any food hall or cafe at lunchtime & see wasted food on plates, same with restaurants at night. Watch supermarket/fruit market employees pulling our bruised items & tossing them out. Check out the skips & dumpsters behind shops & shopping centres all across Australia ...

I have friends who dumpster dive, even tho they have a very good income, they hate waste & when the local deli throws out today's bread they grab it. Dunno why the deli does not contact one of the food rescue organisations that have been around for the last 10 years & find a home for it.

OzHarvest rescuing surplus food since 2004 OzHarvest is the first perishable food rescue organisation in Australia collecting quality excess food from commercial outlets and delivering it, direct and free of charge, to 600 charities providing much needed assistance to vulnerable men, women and children across Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Gold Coast, Melbourne, Newcastle and Perth.
OzHarvest is the only food rescue organisation in Australia collecting surplus food from all types of food providers including fruit and vegetable markets, supermarkets, hotels, wholesalers, farmers, stadiums, corporate events, catering companies, shopping centres, delis, cafes, restaurants, film and TV shoots and boardrooms.

Food rescue group OzHarvest is opening a cafe serving leftovers

Wikipedia on food rescue

World Food Day

Several months back I realised there is a huge composting facility in the Community Centre which I visit weekly, so now I have a home for my fruit & vegetable peelings etc.

sandra