Love Food Hate Waste: the campaign begins

The statement couldn’t be any clearer. There’s a campaign in New Zealand to help raise awareness of the amount of food Kiwis waste each year and how we can do something about it.

Listen up:

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The stats are phenomenal. In one year alone research has shown 122,547 tonnes of food is wasted in New Zealand; the equivalent to 213 jumbo jets worth; in dollar terms $872 million dollars of edible food wasted each year. That amount of food could feed the population of Dunedin for two years and, broken down into households, that’s 79kg of food waste annually.

As a nation we throw out 20 million loaves of bread, more than 2000 tonnes of takeaway chips and $15 million worth of cake. Mostly we aren’t even aware it’s a problem. 50% of the food we throw out is perfectly edible.

In conjunction with WasteMINZ and endorsed by some 50+ councils and community groups around the country, it’s more than just reducing landfill. It aims to stretch household budgets and make us all more considerate about the food we eat.

I attended the Auckland launch in June and chatted to chef Ben Barton from Scarecrow who arranged, with the help of numerous volunteers, delicious finger food with ingredients otherwise destined for the dumpster: burnt cauliflower wrapped in nori; smoked pilchard pate; composted cookies; celery stuffed with apple, walnut & blue cheese; crostini galore — all rescued food, to name a few.

Why do we waste so much food? Shopping habits, eyes being bigger than our stomachs, the way we store food before and after cooking, when to freeze, when to compost….it appears we as Kiwis have much to learn.

I spoke to Jenny Marshall from WasteMinz.  She was part of the research team physically checking rubbish bins of 1300 households who volunteered to partake. These same households will be revisited in 3 years time to measure if the campaign has made a tangible difference. From a Housing NZ estate, to rural and urban homes, we all waste the same amount of food – the difference was in what food and its value. People living in city areas are more likely to throw away takeaway, pre-prepared meals. Wellington was the biggest culprit!

Top Ten food wastes in NZ

Is that brown banana too unsightly to eat? It may be unnerving to know that 18 million bananas are thrown away each year in New Zealand.

From the Great Persimmon Rescue in the Waikato, aimed to harvest 20 tonnes of persimmon and redistribute it around the country, the campaign aims to educate and assist with practical action.

Tips and handy tricks for storage can be found on the Love Food Hate Waste website, along with oodles of recipes to make the most of your leftovers.

Did you know:

• Storing onions with potatoes for example, shortens the life of both
• Apples go off 8 times more at room temperature, compared to be kept in the fridge
• Mushrooms in paper bags or cardboard boxes are great storage containers (not plastic bags);
• Keep your carrots crisp and crunchy by storing them in a click-clac container with a paper towel lining the bottom

You’ll never look at a stale piece of bread in the same way again. Check out my other posts on things to do with bread, potatoes and leftovers.

 

 

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