ALDI is slammed over wasteful act at Townsville supermarket: 'It's distressing'

ALDI has been blasted after staff were filmed throwing away excess food with the 'wasteful' move angering both customers and charities.

Workers were filmed throwing out fruit and vegetables into an over-filled skip bin at Townsville's new ALDI store, just three days after opening at the end of November.

In the 20 second video, two ALDI workers were seen tossing what appeared to be pumpkins, cabbages and carrots, whilst another worker looked on. 

The workers didn't appear to slow down, and one even had an item in each hand to throw the vegetables in at the same time to be more efficient.

The sheer volume of wasted produce could be seen in the skip which was filled to the brim. 

Given the current cost-of-living crisis and the fast approaching festive season, residents were furious to see food waste on such a large scale.

Meanwhile, local food charities in Townsville are struggling to keep up with demand, working overtime to make sure locals in need have enough food for Christmas.

'It distresses me a bit to know that there is food being wasted like that,' Townsville Food Pantry manager Tricia Hatfield told the ABC.

She said the food charity would have happily taken the excess fruit and vegetables  ALDI had discarded. 

'We collect from several supermarkets during the week. What we get is stored in a cold room for refrigeration. It goes to people first and if that's not suitable it will go to a farmer,' she said.

An ALDI spokesman told Daily Mail Australia there had been a large volume of produce ordered for the new store. 

'As we open in new markets, there is always a learning curve, and it was clear the produce estimate for this new store was incorrect resulting in an unfortunate amount of waste,' he said.

'ALDI takes its responsibility to reduce food waste very seriously and has processes and policies in place to ensure that minimal amounts of products on our shelves end up as waste.'

After realising the produce order was too large, ALDI said they worked with their local food partner 'to minimise the waste, donating produce until local demand had been met, and our food waste partner could no longer accept any further donations.'

ALDI said there are now measures implemented to help 'minimise waste levels in this store including working to expand our food donation network in Townsville as we establish our store and community in this new location.'