(The Australian) Shocking Statistics Reveal Australians Expected To Waste 30 Per Cent More Food Over Christmas Period

The Australian - Erin Lyons

Food Rescue: The ingenious way to stop food waste

Australians are throwing away more than $36 billion worth of food every year and that problem accelerates over Christmas.

For most, Christmas is about eating and drinking and it’s easy to not only consume too much, but buy too much.

During the festive period food waste increases by about 30 per cent and contributes to the about 2.5 million tonnes of food gets tossed in the bin across Australian homes each year.

Not only does food waste contribute to the global hunger crisis, it also negatively impacts climate change.

Speaking to NCA NewsWire, Annika Scott, who is the sustainability strategist at OzHarvest, said the most immediate way people can take action on climate change is by reducing food waste in their homes.

“The Christmas season is a time of abundance, indulgence and celebration, but it's also a time of huge, huge amounts of waste,” she said.

LEFT: Annika Scott, OzHarvest Sustainability Strategist at the food distribution warehouse in Alexandria.
RIGHT: Australians are throwing away more than $36 billion worth of food every year and that problem accelerates over Christmas.
Pictures: NCA NewsWire / Jeremy Piper

“A lot of the waste happens when there is overabundance and overindulgence.” Australian households waste 11 per cent of the food they buy which is about $1038 a year, another study by Rabobank found.

The average grocery bill is also up by $20 a week, meaning Aussies are spending an average of $178 on food.

For those trying to reduce their food waste Ms Scott said the best thing people can do is plan ahead.

“In the weeks leading up to Christmas start to think about who you’re cooking for and what people will be eating,” she said.

“But also look at what you already have in your fridge and freezer, that you can either use at the time of the festivity or start to eat what’s in your fridge and freezer now so when Christmas time comes there’s lots of space for leftover goodies.”

One in six Australians suffer from food insecurity.

Ms Scott recommended investing in airtight containers and enough to ensure people can store all their leftovers safely.

OzHarvest also developed a product called ‘Use It Up’ tape deigned to label containers in order of what needs to be eaten first.

“So really good at Christmas time because you can whack it on containers with the lamb or some Christmas treats and everyone knows when that needs to be eaten,” she said.

While many Australians are throwing away food, one in six suffer from food insecurity every year.

“It’s absolutely appalling,” Ms Scott said.

“We know Christmas is a really hard time for a lot of people. Loneliness and of lack of connection spikes at Christmas time.”

She also suggested finding recipes designed to use leftover Christmas food, like using surplus meat for dumplings, or chocolate to make rocky road.

Links

• Connecting the dots between food waste and climate change
• IPCC says we need to cut food waste to help fight climate change but how do we do it?
• Tackling Australia’s food waste
• How we landfill our Christmas stockings in this nation of wasters
• It's easy to recycle right at Christmas when you know how
• The Food Waste Problem - Be Part of the Solution
• Fight Food Waste - OzHarvest
• Food waste: a growing Australian problem