Household Food Waste: The Invisible Scandal

Media release: Wednesday 11 March 2015

Embargoed Until Thursday 12 March 2015

It looks like perfectly edible food straight from the supermarket. Instead, it's perfectly edible food straight out of household rubbish bins!

A recent study reveals that every year the average New Zealand family throws away more than $563worth of edible food. The food wastage was discovered when an audit of rubbish bins collected by Councils was undertaken to try and find out exactly what foods New Zealanders were throwing away and why.

Tasman District and Nelson City Councils have been part of this nationwide project, which surveyed 1,365 people and investigated 1,402 rubbish bins, to find out why food is being wasted and what can be done about it.

Nelson City Councillor Gaile Noonan says, “This audit has revealed a staggering amount of edible food is thrown away every week. This comes as no surprise. We have known for some time that over 30% of the rubbish placed into kerbside collections is food waste.

“What did come as a surprise was the amount of food that's being thrown away which is still edible. Whole loaves of bread, unopened yoghurts and uneaten apples are just some of the foods that have been found in these audits,” says Clr Noonan.

The results found that 27% of households admit to being large food wasters and throw out more than $21 per week of edible food, while 38% of households admit to wasting $8 per week. In Nelson and Tasman, 19 local families took part in a kitchen diary project, recording all their food waste in a week. This found they disposed of an average 3.3kg of edible food per family each week.

Tasman District Councillor Judene Edgar says, “Surprisingly only 10% of households declared they waste nothing at all.”

“This is not just about the waste of food, it is also about the time and expense to manage the waste. While predominantly organic, it is still 30% of waste that does not need to be transported to or managed within a landfill. Minimising our food waste has benefits beyond the household budget, she says.

There are some quick and easy things that can be done to reduce food waste and keep hold of those dollars longer.

• Store your bread in the fridge or freezer instead of on the counter to stop it going mouldy or drying out.

• Stew up any excess fruit you have that might be going soft or blend it up into a smoothie.

• Check your fridge before you go shopping to see what needs using up.

• Turn your leftover vegetables into a frittata, or make some fried rice.

For more information on how to reduce your food waste go to https://www.facebook.com/lovefoodhatewastenz

ENDS

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