Food waste is a major issue that needs to be tackled in Australia with The Food and Agribusiness Growth Centre reporting an alarming economical cost of food wastage to be over $36 billion each year and increasing. If we are talking numbers this means every year a massive 312kg of produce wasted per person, a ratio of one in every five bags of groceries, over two thousand dollars per household a year and 7.6 million tonnes of food as a nation each calendar year.
Relatively, food waste can come from a variety of sources and can include supermarket food thrown out that has passed its used by date, food from restaurants and hospitality industry that don’t make it onto a dish, food damaged during vehicle transport or even food that are not good enough to be picked from the farm. All these areas of food wastage have significant ramifications not only economically but also environmentally. This ultimately means that up to a quarter of the water used to prepare the produce, in agriculture, to grow food is wasted. Throwing away half a pizza is equivalent to wasting 1800 litres of water. In addition, food waste globally is said to contribute up to nine percent of global greenhouse gas emissions causing unnecessary negative impacts to earth’s atmosphere.
What is the Sustainable Development Goad Target 12.3?
The United Nations SDG 12.3 Goal is “By 2030, halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses.”
Australia and New Zealand along with other Governments representing 50% of the world’s population have set a goal to halve its food waste by 2030 in line with the SDG 12.3. Tackling the problem of food wastage can be beneficial in 3 key areas which include climate, reduced economic losses as well as food insecurity for those who need it most. Australia and New Zealand are working with NZ movers to redistribute food through food rescue charities to assist people who need the help. The National Food Waste Strategy introduces actions that Australia will undertake to meet the 2030 goal, this includes a $4 million investment to establish Stop Food Waste Australia to drive the goal to reduce food waste across the supply chain. Implementation of the Australian Food Pact that encourages organisations whether from hospitality, farmers, supermarkets and growers to identify solutions to reduce food waste. Education campaigns targeted to schools and households to raise awareness of the significant impacts caused by food waste. Investment towards research and innovation to help reduce the amount of food waste ending up in landfill.