Sending the issue of food waste, out in style

The good news is, we grow enough food in Australia to feed our population three times over.

The not so good news, is that we waste 7.6 million tonnes of food annually, and ~70% of this could have been eaten. This hurts our economy too, food waste costs Australia $36.6 Billion, per year.

There is huge, and exciting opportunity to change this.

I’ve always been a food waste warrior – in High School at my Supermarket Deli job I refused to see the BBQ chickens binned at the end of the night. We were allowed to discount them, and a syndicate of local restaurant owners would often show up at 9:30PM, in search of a $2 chook.

At the time I was motivated purely by morals – why should edible food go to waste when not everyone has enough to eat, I thought. It just seemed wrong to me. Sadly, today, this is still an issue - 3.7 million households in Australia experienced food insecurity in the last 12 months. That’s more than the number of households in Sydney and Melbourne combined.

But back then, I didn't understand the environmental implications of food waste in landfill at all – I had no idea that decomposing food waste, buried deep in the ground created methane, a greenhouse gas.

I also didn’t appreciate that the ‘unavoidable food waste’ we inevitably create (egg shells, banana skins, bones, avocado seeds etc) should be redirected back to our farms, so the nutrients can be used to grow more food.

Nor was I thinking about valuing the work that our agricultural sector and farmers do – but these days, these issues are very front of mind.

And then, there’s our hip pockets. The cost of living, and doing business, is biting hard.

For food businesses, a third of their waste is food, and it is estimated that food waste costs the average aged care facility $1,000 a week.

Food waste prevention solves environmental, social and financial issues – it’s a ‘triple win’

With all this front of mind, this is why I get so excited about tackling food waste, with a focus on preventing it in the first place. It's a material way to help our environment, everyone in Australia should have access to nutritious food, we should value the work that farmers do, ensure we can keep producing food into the future, and we can improve economic outcomes for this country, industry, businesses and for households too.

We also know what needs to be done. The amount of research on the causes of food waste, is comprehensive and compelling. So let’s get going.

Let’s talk business - how do you prevent food waste?

I’ve spent many hours on the task and ‘tools’ of food waste - if you like.

I want to preface this firstly, in my experience, by explaining that once people understand the issue of food waste in landfill, they want to implement an ‘organics’ or ‘FOGO’ bin service, and call it a day.
These services, which when working effectively, are intended to transport material back to composters and digesters to create compost and fertiliser are absolutely essential – but they should be reserved for food that is not edible by people, followed by animals.

“Let's get some more bins, lob it all in there, and call it a day!” – the easy street of food waste.

Following the circular economy principles, we need to do the strategic work to reduce food waste by ordering, planning, preparing, serving and storing correctly, and ensuring edible food is eaten.

And it can be done. Some careers highlights include:

I was the NSW EPA’s Business lead for the Love Food Hate Waste program, volunteered at food rescue charity ‘FoodCycle’ – collecting unsold food from UK supermarkets and preparing it for those in need.

I led the circular economy for several large organisations, at times when these positions were rare in corporates.

At the London School of Economics, volunteer students and I rescued edible food from Halls of residence when students returned home. I worked with caterers to ensure food was prepared for the right number of guests.

At the GPT Group, a $34 billion property fund, I discovered that OzHarvest was collecting edible food from Charlestown Square Shopping Centre, and I successfully lobbied and gained approval for the data they provided, to be included in the Group’s public disclosures and investor reporting, you can find it in the 2020 Sustainability Report.

At ALDI AU Supermarkets – I wrote the roadmap for zero food waste to landfill for 8 distribution centres and 500+ Stores - with a prioritisation on food donation.

What’s happening these days …

Enter my latest project, working for Amanda Choy and team at the Better Business Partnership in Sydney. Having a long standing relationship with small to medium businesses, the BBP has recently been awarded funding from the NSW EPA to help ~300 reduce food waste, and introduce organics collection services.

It’s pretty exciting to work on a project that focuses on identifying food waste prevention opportunities for plate, prep and stock food waste, thanks to Amanda’ leadership and determination.

And for my next bonus, meet Karl Riseborough – my latest legendary discovery and owner of Flat Rock Café in Naremburn, on Cammeraygal land.

He’s already a circular warrior, rescuing building materials for his brewery café, an onsite bokashi to compost and incorporates careful menu planning – e.g. ‘Schnitzel Special’ well ahead of time, if stock levels are looking too high.

Walking around Flat Rock Cafe is like Disneyland for a circular economy expert.

As the first pilot participant, Karl’s already measured the preparation and plate food waste, and consistently noticed chips being left on customers’ plates and binned. By simply reducing these, by a small amount per serving, he’s reducing unnecessary waste.
Small changes, to many plates, add up!

Karl pays for his landfill bin to be collected weekly, at a cost. If this can be reduced, the collections can be reduced, and save money – plus no more stinky bin!

Businesses are like us humans, no two are alike

Because each business varies; its customers, opening hours, menus, products… their plans need to be fit for purpose, simple, and you need to meet them where they’re at – literally!

Caption: Small business life can be relentless, solutions need to be practical, relevant and cost effective

So who's in? Who's up for reducing their impact on the environment, in a meaningful and material way, saving some money, and showing leadership?

I’m looking forward to the rest of this adventure …..!

Bel is a devoted circular economist, hot chippie addict and designs waste out of business operations, before it becomes your problem.

You can catch Bel chatting all things food waste prevention on ABC Radio Nightlife, with host Bern Young, also now very excited about food waste prevention!

You can listen the ABC Nightlife Food Waste episode HERE.