New campaign tackles $870 million scandal

18 March 2015

It’s a hidden scandal that costs New Zealand $872 million a year, with the burden in Taranaki alone totalling nearly $20 million.

The scandal is household food wastage, and everyone has a part to play in slashing its huge financial and environmental toll, say the organisers of the newly launched ‘Love Food, Hate Waste’ campaign.

The campaign is being run by Councils nationwide and is based on research that included surveying 1365 New Zealanders, examining the contents of nearly 1400 household rubbish bins and giving 100 families diaries to record food disposal for a week. Findings include:

• Kiwis spend an estimated $872 million a year on food that then gets thrown away uneaten.
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• We throw away more than 122,500 tonnes of food a year – enough to feed around 263,000 people, or two and a half times the population of Taranaki, for 12 months.
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• Bread, fruit and vegies, and meal leftovers are the most commonly discarded foods.
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• The average household sends around 79 kg of edible food to landfills every year.
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• In Taranaki, avoidable food waste costs the average household nearly $460 a year, totalling nearly $20 million for the region as a whole.
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In Taranaki, the Love Food, Hate Waste campaign is being promoted by the region’s four Councils through their joint Waste Management Committee. Its Chair, Taranaki Regional Councillor Neil Walker, says the amount of wastage is nothing short of scandalous.

“Not only is it an insidious drain on family budgets, but it creates an unnecessary environmental burden. Look at all the good food that goes to landfills every year – we don’t need that sort of pressure, particularly here in Taranaki where our landfill is nearing the end of its life,” says Cr Walker. “And all this rotting food contributes significantly to greenhouse gas emissions – eliminating the wastage would have the same effect as taking more than 118,000 cars off the road.”

The research showed most people don’t realise how much good food they are throwing away and how much it’s costing them.

The Love Food, Hate Waste campaign will run for three years. It aims to bring the problem out into the open and provide information to help Kiwis cut the waste. It highlights the importance of planning food purchases and meals, being smart about food storage and being creative with leftovers. See www.facebook.com/lovefoodhatewastenz.

You can also read a Taranaki case study about a household that keeps food waste to an absolute minimum.

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