Tackling food waste is good for people and the planet

Projects tackling food waste are getting a big boost from the Government.

The funded projects range from public education on how to cut waste at home, to reducing the amount of food being wasted in large retirement villages and rest homes.

Collectively, the four projects will receive $4.6 million over three years from the Climate Emergency Response Fund (Cerf).

The organisations being funded are:

• NZ Food Waste Champions 12.3 for a project called Kai Commitment, a voluntary national agreement in which major food businesses commit to reducing food waste. Businesses signed up so far are Countdown, Fonterra, Foodstuffs, Goodman Fielder, Nestle, Silver Fern Farms, and Wilcox.

• WasteMINZ for a project supported by 52 local body councils, to create multi-media campaigns encouraging householders to reduce the amount of food they waste. The project will draw on the successful Love Food Hate Waste campaign.

• Para Kore Marae Incorporated’s project with more than 800 mainly Māori-led organisations, working towards zero food waste.

• A consortium of organisations including retirement village providers Arvida, Bupa, and the Retirement Villages Association, led by the University of Otago, to measure and reduce the amount of food being wasted in commercial kitchens in the retirement sector.