Australians are throwing away a staggering 7.6 million tonnes of food every year, worth $36.6 billion while millions of families are grappling with growing living costs.
The shocking reality, and solutions to save Australia's food from going to waste, are being highlighted at the 2024 National Food Waste Summit in Melbourne this week (July 24-25), where experts and industry leaders - including from Coles, Simplot, Sodexo, McCain Foods, and Goodman Fielder - are rallying to tackle this national challenge.
"The equivalent of 29 million meals go to waste every day – enough to provide lunch daily for every Australian, while 3.7 million households are struggling to put food on the table. For families, food waste costs $2500 a year on average," says Dr Steven Lapidge, CEO of End Food Waste Australia.
"Food waste happens from paddock to plate and 70% is still edible. We're bringing industry, government and Australians together to end food waste," he said.
The national Food Waste Summit features international heavyweights like Dana Gunders from ReFED, USA, and EU food waste project leader Toine Timmermans from the Netherlands, who are leading the global charge on food waste action and will share insights on tackling food waste. Industry leaders from Coles, Sodexo, McCain Foods, Simplot and Goodman Fielder will discuss the impact of the Australian Food Pact, which helped businesses save up to $4000 per tonne of food waste reduced.
ABC's Gardening Australia host Costa Georgiadis will MC the summit.
The 2024 National Food Waste Summit will also showcase innovative and forward-thinking solutions like food waste-free cities and cutting-edge packaging to extend shelf life and highlight innovative companies like Nutri V who are transforming waste streams into nutritious and delicious snacks, demonstrating how technology and creativity can transform our approach to food.
In his keynote address, Craig Reucassel from ABC's War on Waste will talk about how our wasteful habits are killing the planet. The environmental impact is massive, with food waste accounting for around 3% of Australia's greenhouse gas emissions. Halving food waste in Australia by 2030 could prevent 50 million tonnes of CO2 emissions - the equivalent of removing half the vehicles from Australian roads for a year.
The two-day event at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre comes at the midway point of Australia's food waste action plan - six years since the launch of the National Food Waste Strategy and six years to go until the 2030 target.
"Australia's food waste doesn't just burn a hole in our pockets – it's an environmental disaster. The resources squandered are mind-boggling. It's crunch time, with the cost-of-living crisis bringing the need for action into sharp focus. We're halfway through our plan to halve food waste by 2030. This summit is crucial," Dr Lapidge said.
"With the right moves, we can cut waste, save billions of dollars, and make sure every Aussie has enough to eat. There's no time to waste, ending food waste starts with us all," he said.
Please see here for the 2024 National Food Waste Summit program: https://airdrive.eventsair.com/eventsairaueprod/production-bigfishevents-public/93249bcfc65d485eb12c424ef2f1e73b
