Page 20 - Food&Drink Business magazine June 2022

FOOD WASTE
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.
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.
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
$1 invested 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.
ABOVE LEFT: Stop Food Waste Australia COO Mark Barthel has more than 25 years’ experience in solving food waste crises around the globe.
BELOW & RIGHT: The food cold chain sector is the first to have a Sector Action Plan completed.
Wasting no time
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.
“ More than 25 million hectares – an area larger than the state of Victoria – is used to grow food that is then wasted.”
That puts it behind China and the US, but representing 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.
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.
20 | Food&Drink business | June 2022 | www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au