Page 20 - Food & Drink Magazine March 2021

ENVIRONMENT MATTERS
Join the fight
The reality of shocking levels of food waste and a commitment to halve food waste by 2030 have been driving forces in the creation of Stop Food Waste Australia. Tanya Wilkins from Fight Food Waste CRC explains what it is and why businesses need to get on board.
AUSTRALIA is a standout producer and manufacturer of high quality and safe food that the world wants. We produce enough food for 60 million people when our own population is less than half that.
From all we produce, we then waste 7.3 million tonnes of it every year. That is enough to fill the Melbourne Cricket Ground to the brim nearly nine times.
Couple that image with figures from Foodbank’s annual Hunger Report, which found one in five Australians – more than five million people – are experiencing food insecurity. COVID-19 exacerbated this crisis, with food charities recording an average 47 per cent increase in demand for food relief in 2020.
We need no more proof or convincing that the National Food Waste Strategy target to halve food waste by 2030 must happen. We can do better as a nation. By reducing food loss and waste we can:
• make the best use of precious natural resources, making sure more food makes it to
a table;
• create new jobs, products and ingredients and grow our agri-food sector;
• reduce the climate impacts
of our food system and make it more resilient to climate risks; and
• support farmers, businesses and households doing it tough. There are opportunities for all
businesses from farm to fork to tackle waste. Then in turn, improve profitability, respond to supply risks, provide innovative solutions, be more competitive and provide quality products with lower impacts to the market.
resource recovery companies, research and academic institutions, federal, state, and local governments, consumer groups and consumers.
With seed funding from the federal and state governments, industry and the food rescue sector, this partnership brings together the brightest minds in food to realise the significant economic, environmental and societal opportunities that come with tackling food waste.
Stop Food Waste’s formation is a key part of the National Food Waste Strategy with the task of bringing together the people and programs needed to meet the 2030 target.
We will create real, practical changes like improved packaging and product design and more precise product labelling, as well as transforming surplus food and food processing wastes into new upcycled food products and ingredients, unlocking new value for the industry. With all hands-on deck, we will:
• implement a voluntary
agreement;
• develop new, and implement
existing, sector action plans; • communicate, engage and
partner for impact; and • evaluate and report our
progress.
BY REDUCING FOOD WASTE, BUSINESSES ON AVERAGE SEE A
INTRODUCING THE VOLUNTARY AGREEMENT For many organisations, the easy efficiency improvements have already been realised, leaving some big challenges.
Others are just starting out on their journey to a more financially and environmentally sustainable business model.
Many of these are challenges that neither businesses, nor individual stages of the food chain, can tackle alone.
Without taking a systemic view of the food system, we risk merely pushing waste around the supply chain, often onto those less able to deal with it effectively.
We are introducing a voluntary agreement to focus on
20 | Food&Drink business | March 2021 | www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au
$14
BENEFIT FOR EACH $1 THEY INVESTED.
ENTER: STOP FOOD WASTE
We are a powerful new partnership of organisations committed to reducing our food waste by half by 2030.
Stop Food Waste Australia works with organisations across the value chain, including individual business, peak industry and sector bodies, waste management and