Australian households “ throw away food worth $7.8 billion a year” (Foodwise 2013, para. 4), which amounts to 38% of all household waste in NSW. With over $158 billion spent on food, australian throw as much as 20% of it in the rubbish bin every year (ABC 2013), it has become a significant issue both economically and ethically. Fortunately, two not-for-profit organisations in Australia is trying to change that, with both statistics, education and food trucks.

FoodWise, a national educational campaign run by Do Something, an American non-profit organisation, who’s vision is to “ to reduce the environmental impact of Australia’s food consumption” (FoodWise 2013, para. 6). They have created a series of infographics that inform the public about food wastage in Australia, and provide statistic to measure food wastage such as “up to 40% of Australia household bin is food” (FoodWise 2013, para. 3). They express the importance of sustainbility in the context of food by purchasing and eating seasonal foods, and to reduce food waste such as household organic bins and compost. Jon Dee, the founder of FoodWise expresses that the way to “eat our way to a better future” (FoodWise 2013, para. 13) is a long process that can be resolved by educating the Australian population how frightening “the energy and resources it takes to get food all the way from the paddock to the plate.” (FoodWise 2013, para.5)

OzHarvest is another significant non-profit organisation that attempts to solve the food wastage issue in Australia. OzHarvest is the “first perishable food rescue organisation in Australia” (Ozharvest 2014, para. 1) which collects excess food from commercial outputs such as restaurants and delivers it to over 600 charities all around Australia to provide for people in need (OzHarvst 2014).

They deliver the excess food in what is now called a “food truck” (Weekend Notes 2014) with over 32 million meals delivered, saving over 10,000 tones of food being wasted (OzHarvest 2014). The founder Ronni Kahn founded the organisation in 2004, with the intention of revolutionising the food wastage issue in the hospitality industry. In order to ensure the quality of food that is being donated to OzHarvest, Kahn had managed to change the existing legislation of “supplying excess food under the Civil Liabilities Amendment Act and Heath Acts” (OzHarvest 2014, para. 2) to protect the recipient from eating food items that have gone bad.

Both organisation strive to change the food wastage issue in Australia through different means, and highlight the issue of how much food both household and the hospitality industry waste. It is a very important issue that should be pondered upon as there are many people starving in Australia, and need to be taken care of, especially the homeless population in Australia (FoodWise 2013).

Reference:

Dee, J 2013, ‘Australia needs a food waste strategy’,ABC, 5 June 2013, viewed 15 April 2015, < http://www.abc.net.au/environment/articles/2013/06/05/3774785.htm>

Fact Check 2013, ‘Do Australians waste $8 billion worth of edible food each year?’, ABC, 15 October 2013, viewed 15 April 2015, < http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-10-08/food-waste-value-australia/4993930>

FoodWise 2013, Food Waste Fast Facts, Australia, viewed 15 April 2015,< http://www.foodwise.com.au/foodwaste/food-waste-fast-facts/ >

FoodWise 2013, The Campaign, Australia, viewed 15 April 2015,< http://www.foodwise.com.au/about-foodwise/the-campaign/ >

OzHarvest 2014, OzHarvest: What we do, Australia, viewed 15 April 2015, < http://www.ozharvest.org/what-we-do/>

Weekend Notes 2014, OzHarvest Tree Of Goodness, viewed 15 April, 2015, < http://www.weekendnotes.com/ozharvest-tree-of-goodness/>

Images:

Factwise 2013, Fact Sheet Infographic, Australia, viewed 15 April 2015, <http://www.foodwise.com.au/foodwaste/food-waste-fast-facts&gt;

Weekend notes 2014, OzHarvest Food Trucks Deliver Produce to Charitable Organisations in Adelaide, Adelaide,  viewed on 15 April 2015, <http://www.weekendnotes.com/im/000/00/ozharvest-charitable-organisation-tree-of-goodness21.jpg&gt;