Aussie households waste around 7.6 million tonnes of food annually, costing the economy a whopping $36.6 billion each year and contributing to 3 per cent of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions.
And we haven’t even touched yet on the wasted effort and resources in growing, irrigating and transporting food.
“Throwing out a single burger is equivalent to running a shower for 90 minutes,” says OzHarvest founder, Ronni Kahn AO. “About one in five shopping bags goes to waste, costing each household between $2000 and $3000 annually.”
Ms Kahn blames the ease and convenience of supermarkets for making us undervalue our food.
“We don’t consider the embedded costs in producing food – the energy, labour, fuel and more,” Kahn states. “We’ve lost that sense of awareness.”
RMIT-led research reveals unsuitable packaging sizes, poor purchasing habits, and confusion around date labels also contribute to food waste. While there are concerns about food packaging’s environmental impact, “packaging may be unavoidable if we want to reduce food waste,” says RMIT Associate Professor Lukas Parker.
While the advent of “ugly” or “imperfect” food ranges has been beneficial, Ms Kahn stresses the importance of not viewing them as a false economy. “It costs the same to grow an ugly potato as a beautiful one,” she says.
As we face a cost-of-living crisis, it’s crucial we rethink our food habits to minimise waste and its far-reaching impacts. How much food do you waste? What do you do to ensure you waste as little food as possible? Would you share some recipes or tips for using leftovers?
Best leftovers recipe – as judged by forum participants, gets a $50 gift card!*
*If YLC members do not rate recipes, the prize will be awarded to the best recipe as judged by a YLC staff member. Entries close 31 July 2023.
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