Page 20 - Food&Drink magazine Feb-Mar 2023

FOOD WASTE
Delegates at the 2022 National Food Waste Summit.
In late 2022, the second Australian food waste summit was held. Fight Food Waste CEO Dr Steve Lapidge reflects on its success, achievements of 2022, and the road ahead.
Climb every summit
IN November 2017, around 200 people gathered in Melbourne for the first National Food Waste Summit. Hosted by the Australian government, this event was a meaningful signposting of the challenge that lay ahead of us to meet the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 12.3 of halving food waste by 2030.
Almost five years to the day of the first event, Fight Food Waste hosted the second National Food Waste Summit in Brisbane in November 2022.
With more than 250 in-person and online registrations for the second Summit, the event documented both how far Australia has come in its food waste reduction journey, and how much further we have to go, with just seven years left to reach our target.
No-one involved in food waste reduction in Australia is under any illusion about the size of the task ahead of us – but the one thing that the second summit clearly demonstrated is the growing momentum across all levels of industry, government, and research. The enthusiasm and camaraderie are what set the two events apart.
One of the main takeaways for me from the summit was
that this momentum is due in large part to a strong sense of collaboration.
A message consistently heard across the two-day program was that no one person or organisation can adequately address Australia’s food waste challenge on their own. Working together – across industry, government, and research, and along the length of the food value chain – is the only viable path forwards.
From Fight Food Waste’s perspective, the 2022 summit also underlined how much has been achieved collaboratively since the National Food Waste Strategy was released in 2017.
The Fight Food Waste Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) was established in 2018, through the Australian government’s Department of Industry, Sciences and Resources. It has a lifespan of ten years with total resources of more than $120 million.
At the end of 2022, it had completed 25 projects with another 34 actively underway.
Stop Food Waste Australia (SFWA) was established in 2021, through the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment, and Water. In that same year, SFWA launched
the Australian Food Pact, which by the end of 2022 had 24 signatories from across the Australian food industry.
Together as Food Fight Food Waste, the Fight Food Waste CRC, and SFWA are currently working with over 100 unique partners across Australia.
What does 2023 and beyond look like for Australia’s food waste reduction activities?
A good place to start is the
petition at the SWFA website stopfoodwaste.com.au.
We also look forward to many more food businesses continuing to join the Australian Food Pact, and the development and release of SWFA-led Sector Action Plans for dairy and horticulture.
In FIAL’s National Food Waste Feasibility Study from 2021, it was noted that Australia required ‘unprecedented action’
“ No-one involved in food waste reduction in Australia is under any illusion about the size of the task ahead of us.”
10 key takeaways from the 2022 summit, which you can find on our website fightfoodwastecrc. com.au.
Particular areas of interest for Fight Food Waste in 2023 include the ongoing work associated with the development and rollout of a nationwide consumer behaviour change campaign, and also continuing to push with our partner Foodbank for a national food donation tax incentive.
Businesses can show their support for this tax incentive proposal by signing the online
if it wanted to reach its 2030 food waste reduction targets. After a highly successful 2022 and the second National Food Waste Summit, it’s clear
that Fight Food Waste is more equipped than ever to lead the necessary action in 2023 and beyond that will turn the unprecedented into a reality.
While it’s not too late, we must act now, and we will need your help.
If your business wants to
join the fight against food waste visit our website, fightfoodwastecrc.com.au. ✷
20 | Food&Drink business | February/March 2023 | www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au