4 Responses to “Australian Food Waste”

1. Karin says:

   December 20, 2012 at 9:45 pm

   Our household has no food waste whatsoever … ‘cos we use a weekly menu! Saves time, money and resources: http://karinscuisine.blogspot.com.au/

   Merry Christmas

   Reply
2. Karin says:

   December 20, 2012 at 9:46 pm

   Whoops, I meant to include this link …

   http://karinscuisine.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/why-use-weekly-menu.html

   Cheers!

   Reply
3. Paul - The Kind Little Blogger says:

   December 25, 2012 at 1:52 pm

   That’s a beautiful infographic! Though, the message is pretty dire. We mustn’t read this sort of thing and go on and do nothing. It’s a direct call for action. The data is sound: let’s be influenced by it.

   Reply
4. Adam Smith says:

   March 5, 2013 at 2:35 am

   Hi,

   My name is Adam Smith and I am the founder of a charitable food wastage movement called ‘The Real Junk Food Project’. The concept is basic and relies on charitable donations of waste food produce, either from a direct or indirect source, and using the produce to ‘REALLY feed the world’

   I am a 27 year old, fully qualified chef from Leeds, UK, and I have been applying my trade for just over 7 years. I have worked in many different establishments at many different levels. I came to Australia with my girlfriend Johanna Hewitt on 4th July 2012 on a working holiday visa, with the view of obtaining permanent residency. Along our travels through Perth, Sydney, Melbourne and Far Northern Queensland, we have both been inspired by so many different people all saying the same thing…”Why?”

   Every year 1.3billion tonnes of food produce is wasted either by feeding it to livestock or because it is rejected by supermarkets due to it not fitting strict criteria, which you may or may not be aware of. Also, because of strict guidelines surrounding ‘use by & best before” dates, people are also throwing out nearly a third of all food bought, even though it is still edible!

   925 million people or 13.6% of the worlds population is officially classed as malnourished or starving and over 100 million people are officially homeless. Now we both know that these figures are not accurate enough, but this means that for every 1 person starving and/or homeless, there is 1 tonne of food available to them through waste.

   And here are some astonishing facts:

   3.28million tonnes of food is wasted per annum by Australians.

   700,000 tonnes of food is wasted per annum by the people of Victoria alone.

   If we stopped wasting food that could be eaten, it would have the same impact on carbon emmisions as taking 1 in 5 cars of the road.

   Dumping 1kg of beef wastes 50,000ltrs of water it took to produce it.

   Dumping 1kg of white rice wastes 2385 litres,

   and dumping 1kg potatoes wastes 500ltrs!

   2million Australians (or 1 in 10) each year, seek assistance with food, half of which are children.

   60,000 low-income families in Australia go without meals or are food insecure.

   Any 1 night in Australia, 105,000 people are homeless, half of which are under 25 years of age.

   In 2006, the Australian Bureau of Statistics stated that there were 20,511 homeless people in Victoria alone.

   So why is nothing being done about this?

   Well there is. Currently 500 charities provide food relief to men and women in Victoria, but here is where I am going to attempt to be different and where ‘The Real Junk Food Project’ comes into play.

   I intend to intercept the produce destined for livestock, to be thrown away by restaurants with poor wastage management or the general public or to be ploughed back into the land and use it to feed people whom need it the most. I will use the Australians public cooking facilities to cook dishes entirely made from donated food produce with the help of volunteers and feed the worlds population all for free! I also plan to use this opportunity to educate and advise people on how to use up leftover produce and teach people a basic life skill which is unfortunately, slowing dying in this ‘fast-food/Facebook’ generation., and I intend to do this for free. I will donate all my time and effort into making this a reality, and prove to people, especially world governments, that actions do speak louder than words.
   I have had so many farms, restaurants and the general public tell me what ‘I can’t do’, and I’m not that sort of person…I can do and achieve anything I want in life
   Any feedback, criticism, advice or info you can kindly share with me, I would be hugely grateful for!

   I need the ball to start moving quicker, and this would be one huge step towards my goal of feeding the world for free!

   Kind regards

   Adam Smith
   The Real Junk Food Project
   “Let’s REALLY feed the world”

   https://www.facebook.com/TheRealJunkFoodProject

   Reply