Waste Management Institute New Zealand (WasteMINZ) has partnered with NZ Food Waste Champions 12.3 to reduce food waste in Aotearoa, New Zealand.

“Addressing food waste has environmental, social and economic benefits. Food waste contributes to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions and for the average New Zealand family, over $640 is spent on food that goes in the bin. This makes no sense when 1 in 5 children in New Zealand are hungry. NZ Food Waste Champions 12.3 harnesses the collective efforts of people to tackle food waste across the country”, says Co-Chair Deborah Manning and Founder of NZ Food Network and KiwiHarvest.

NZ Food Waste Champions 12.3 was launched in March 2020 with a vision of ‘He Taonga Te Kai, An Aotearoa where food is valued, not wasted’. Their mission is to accelerate progress towards reducing food waste by 2030, in line with the global Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Target 12.3. The organisation has representatives from farm to fork who are their “Champions” and “Citizens”, turning the dial on food waste reduction.

“This partnership shows that reducing food waste is a priority for WasteMINZ”, says Chief Executive Janine Brinsdon. “We know it has major climate impacts and we are already doing work to tackle this problematic waste stream. For example, we have raised consumer awareness through our Love Food Hate Waste campaign, which has carried out food waste audits, conducted surveys into household behaviour around food waste and developed tips, tools and recipes to help reduce food waste. It makes sense for us to widen our ambit by partnering with NZ Food Waste Champions 12.3.”

WasteMINZ is the largest representative body of the waste, resource recovery and contaminated land management sectors in New Zealand. Formed in 1989 it is a membership-based organisation with over 1,500 members – from small operators through to councils and large waste and recovery operators. Its members are actively reviewing the government’s proposed Emissions Reduction Plan and the New Zealand Waste Strategy. Food waste is a major waste stream we need to reduce and manage better and this partnership will help inform new initiatives.

“NZ Food Waste Champions 12.3 will be very similar to WasteMINZ’s Love Food Hate Waste project – a separate and distinct project but sitting under the organisation’s organic materials sector group umbrella to enhance connections and impact”, says WasteMINZ Chief Executive Janine Brinsdon.
 

“Food waste is an issue that businesses, government and community need to come together on to make a difference. This is why we are excited about our partnership with NZ Food Waste Champions 12.3”, she added.

Miranda Mirosa is the NZ Food Waste Champions 12.3 Co-Chair and Associate Professor at the University of Otago, she says “This partnership indicates a new phase for NZ Food Waste Champions 12.3, to raise the profile of the food waste issue.”

“We have three strategic priorities:- showcasing successful business initiatives to reduce food waste, advocacy to government to reduce food waste and action to aggregate and accelerate a reduction of food waste.”

Mirosa went on to say “Following on from a parliamentary investigation into food waste and my advice to the Environment Select Committee in 2019, I see a clear need for better coordination, so partnering with WasteMINZ makes sense for us.”

NZ Food Waste Champions 12.3 are grateful for their supporters to date, particularly Countdown AGMARDT, The Tindall Foundation, Whakatupu Aotearoa and Ecostock. The partnership between NZ Food Waste Champions 12.3 and WasteMINZ will last until at least the end of 2022.

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