Australia’s response to its food waste crisis is picking up pace with sector action plans coming into force. Stop Food Waste Australia chief operating officer Mark Barthel provides an update on the progress to halving food waste by 2030.
The numbers around food waste are incredible. According to the World Resources Institute, globally, more than $1.8 trillion worth of food is wasted annually.
Research indicates eight per cent of food produced across the world is lost before it reaches the farm gate, 14 per cent is lost between the farm gate and being sold, and another 17 per cent is wasted at the retail, food service, and household stages.
This has a toll for the planet and the people that inhabit it.
If global food loss and waste was a country, it would be the third-biggest emitter of greenhouse gases.
That puts it behind China and the US but represents up to 10 per cent of global emissions.
The production of food that is lost or wasted requires a land mass greater in size than China. And one in 10 people globally are undernourished – despite two billion tonnes of food going unconsumed annually.
It is indisputable that reducing food waste is a complex and difficult challenge, but it is also indisputable that there is a growing movement of awareness, organisation, and action towards meeting this challenge, both here and around the world.
There are targets
The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal Target 12.3 calls for halving food waste by 2030, and the federal government has set a similar goal to halve food loss and waste for this country.
There are measurements
Food Innovation Australia Ltd (FIAL) has measured food waste in Australia, and their findings are similarly stark to their global counterparts.
More than 25 million hectares – an area larger than the state of Victoria – is used to grow food that is then wasted.
That equals 7.6m tonnes of food being wasted annually, the equivalent of filling the MCG nearly 10 times over, at a cost of $36.6 billion to the Australian economy.
And now, action
Stop Food Waste Australia (SFWA) was established in December 2020 as the agency coordinating our response to the goal of halving food waste by 2030.
SFWA is a partnership involving all levels of government, industry and the food rescue sector. This collaboration is foundational and crucial to success, as reducing food waste will only be addressed by working together.
In October 2021, SFWA launched its first major deliverable: the Australian Food Pact.
Make a pact
The Australian Food Pact is a voluntary commitment, and features some of Australia’s biggest food businesses as its inaugural signatories, including Woolworths, Coles, Compass Group, Sodexo, Mars Foods, Simplot, McCains Foods, Mondelez International and Goodman Fielder.
These businesses have come together in the spirit of pre-competitive collaboration to develop food waste solutions and implement change at scale.
It is a multi-year commitment which will see them not only provide beneficial outcomes for their customers and the environment, but also their profitability: for every $1invested in food waste prevention in Australia, the average return is $7-$10.
Commit to a plan
The second major SWFA deliverable is Sector Action Plans (SAP).
These differ from the Australian Food Pact in that SWFA works with policymakers and industries across a specific supply chain.
We then co-design and develop a concentrated focus on significant food waste hotspots relevant to them.
Depending on the size of the industry and number of industry stakeholders, SAPs can take between six to 12 months to plan, design, and start delivering.
They focus on five ‘pillars’ of action, which each have timed deliverable outcomes:
- Policy Levers;
- Research, Development and Extension;
- Implementation;
- Building a Community of Practice; and
- Monitoring, Evaluation, Reporting and Improvement (MERI) Framework.
In from the cold
The Australian Food Cold Chain Sector Action Plan is the first SAP to be completed and is an excellent example of what can be achieved.
The Food Cold Chain SAP was developed by senior SWFA staff with Australian Food Cold Chain Council (AFCCC) chair Mark Mitchell and executive director Greg Picker.
The AFCC is the peak body representing Australian food cold chain businesses.
FIAL’s 2021 National Food Waste Strategy Baseline revealed 423,000 tonnes of food waste occurred during the distribution phase, with most of that being fresh food.
Working with the AFCCC was critical to understanding the challenges faced by the industry and developing an appropriate plan.
AFCCC Chair Mark Mitchell says, “The Food Cold Chain Sector Action Plan points the way to how our industry will respond to reducing food waste.
“The team at SFWA are the food waste reduction experts. They listened to us, helped us identify where our most pressing needs and challenges lay, and then took that information and turned it into a document that consolidates all of our thinking.
“Having the plan provides the impetus for us to take action and do so much more in this space than any one business or person could have done on their own – and as a result the whole industry will benefit.”
The Food Cold Chain SAP has 20 targeted actions over the short, medium, and long term that SWFA will now work with the AFCCC on delivering.
Food rescue plan
Food rescue organisation Foodbank Australia’s latest Hunger Report found one in six Australians experience food insecurity. Every week, 1.2 million children go hungry, sometimes going whole days without eating every week.
Juxtaposing these startling figures against those of our food waste profile, where nearly 300 kilograms of food per person per year goes uneaten, highlights the timeliness and importance of our latest SAP for Food Rescue.
Australia’s food rescue sector already does incredible work, and SFWA has been privileged to work with the country’s four biggest providers Foodbank, Ozharvest, Fareshare, and SecondBite in co-designing the Food Rescue SAP.
Foodbank Australia general manager of business Sarah Pennell says the plan has created two complementary outcomes: reducing food waste and increasing the number of Australians with food security.
“The Food Rescue SAP details how we will collectively achieve our three goals: increasing the volume of edible, nutritious food recovered; decreasing the volume of food waste all along the food value chain; and improving the collection and distribution of rescued food to assist food insecure people in Australia,” Pennell says.
“This work will have a positive impact on the lives of millions of Australians who are currently food insecure as well as helping reduce this country’s food waste.
“For the sector itself, having SWFA bring us together to work on this has been game changing. We’ve been able to increase our understanding of each other and our shared challenges, which makes addressing them easier and more effective.”
For Pennell, the openness in the sector has been welcomed, helping agencies realise they are not alone in facing the barriers to delivering real impact.
With five more industry SAPs in the pipeline, the impact once all are in operation will be impressive.
Our goal is to halve waste by 2030; we’re on our way.
Two plans done, which one next?
With the Food Cold Chain and Food Rescue Sector Action Plans (SAP) completed, which industry SAPs are next for Stop Food Waste Australia?
Meat
Key stakeholders include Meat and Livestock Australia, supported by the Queensland Government.
Dairy
Key stakeholders include Dairy Australia and the Australian Dairy Products Federation, supported by Sustainability Victoria.
Bread and Bakery
Stakeholders include the Bakery Association of Australia, the Australian Food & Grocery Council, Coles, Goodman Fielder, George Weston Foods, Bakers Delight, Bob & Pete’s Bakery, the Stock Feed Manufacturers’ Council of Australia, and supported by the NSW EPA.
Horticulture
Supported by the Queensland government.
Hospitality and Food Service
Key stakeholders include Australian Food Service Advocacy Body.
Institutions
Key stakeholders include the Institute of Hospitality in Healthcare.
This article first appeared in the June 2022 issue of Food & Drink Business magazine.
