The situation
A food waste problem
If food waste were a country, it would be the third largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions globally behind the USA & China. In Australia, we waste roughly 7.3 million tonnes of food costing over $20 billion per year. With 25% of all water used in agriculture going into food production, that’s one quarter of our usable water resource discarded. Another resource we cannot afford to abuse.
Learn moreNew initiatives
Taking responsibility
The good news, many countries, cities and regions around the world are all starting to make changes to their approach to food waste, with individuals also helping drive the change. Brilliant initiatives like the San Francisco City Council implementing a food only kerbside collection that is converted directly into compost (free for residents to use on their gardens); Wollongong City Council also following suit with the introduction of FOGO for their residents, kitchen top bins / liners encouraging households to put their waste in the food only bin. But it can’t all be left up to the governments of the world, we as individuals must take responsibility for our own actions, reducing our impact on the one carrot top at a time.
There are many ways each of us can take small steps into changing; writing shopping lists and meal planning; re-growing discarded greens such as spring onions & herbs on window sills, to composting or using bokashi to eliminate excess food within the home. Community gardens allow us to grow and trade food, growing only what we need and swapping with neighbours to keep our food miles down. Purchasing from a local farmers market where possible or growing our own food. Each little bit helps.
Learn moreImplementing change
Minimising waste
The biggest driver behind Green Food Australia was the desire to minimise food waste from commercial venues, as well as creating conversations with business and individuals on how they too, can implement change.
Ask yourself, what can you do better within your home to prevent 61% of your kerbside collection being food & garden waste?
Contact usEssentially, all life depends upon the soil… There can be no life without soil and no soil without life; they have evolved together.
Dr. Charles E Kellogg, Soil Scientist and Chief of the USDA’s Bureau for Chemistry and Soils