Food waste

One of the single biggest impacts we can have on climate change is reducing the amount of food waste going to landfill. Did you know that about 1/3 of food is lost or wasted globally? And it is estimated that up to 10% of emissions are generated from edible food that is produced but not eaten (Fight Food Waste | The Problem - Global, National & Home | OzHarvest).

There are a few things we can do about this.

BUSINESS

The NSW EPA is building infrastructure to facilitate the collection of large quantities of food waste. While the current focus is on local council areas, they do have plans for businesses. If you’re a food business that generates more than 1 tonne of waste (not just food waste) per week, you may be captured in upcoming regulations, requiring you to separate your organics. Why not get started now and get involved in the NSW EPA’s programs for proactive businesses. If you need help with the process, reach out to the team at Tamarack and we can guide you to reducing your impact on the planet and maybe even saving some money.

INDIVIDUALS

1. Plan your meals: by making sure you’re only buying what you know you’ll need to eat for the week, it will help save waste and a few dollars.

2. Donate: there are millions of Australians without enough food to eat, so if you know you’re not going to eat something in your pantry, donate it to one of the many food rescue charities around Australia such as Oz Harvest, Second Bite or Food Bank.

3. Make stock: save the tops and tails from onions, carrots and celery, bits of garlic and the bones from your roast chicken. Pop all of this in the freezer and when you have some time on a weekend, put it all into a pot with some herbs and let it simmer for a few hours (or try this recipe). You can make this with any leftover bones or skip the bones to make it vegetarian. There is a lovely feeling when you make your next risotto, curry or soup with the stock you’ve made yourself.

4. Compost: more and more councils are collecting food scraps, you can find out if your council has a collection program on their website, more are coming onboard all the time. If you’re not in one of the current collection areas, there are still a few different things you can put in place for this.

   1. No space: Find a neighbour or local community garden willing to take your scraps.

   2. Some space: Get a worm farm. It sounds like a gross concept but using worms to compost is a great way to reduce waste in a small space. I used to have one on my apartment balcony and the nutrients were great for the herbs and veggies we were growing. Gardening Australia has some great tips on how to get started.

   3. Backyard: If you’re lucky enough to have space in your yard, you can set up a compost bin for your garden and food waste.

5. Get choosy: you can also choose to support organisations that are doing what they can to reduce waste from the farm all the way to the grocery store, where a lot of the food is wasted.

Want to learn more about the impact of food waste and what you can do? Check out episode 2 of season 3 of War on Waste.

Pickled radishes from the garden, using this recipe and radish stem pesto.