The untapped opportunities for food waste

Food is no longer just about nutrition. It’s about trends, eating out, celebrity chefs, and, most of all, convenience. The popularity of reality cooking shows and the overwhelming number of food bloggers reinforces this. Unfortunately, all of this hype, along with a healthy dose of ignorance, helps generate nearly 10 million tonnes of food waste a year!

These figures are mind blowing when you consider the massive volume of inputs that go into producing food. Water, energy, logistics, and packaging all contribute to the costs, and then it just gets thrown away? Do people really believe that it doesn’t matter because food is biodegradable? Do they not make the connection that when food is wasted, so are all these other resources?

It has to be about more than recycling

The recent Simpler Recycling reforms have mandated the separate collection of food waste. The primary motivator is that separating it from residual waste will help reduce landfill. Local authorities are concerned about the costs and logistic involved in handling yet another waste stream, especially where there is a high risk of contamination.

But what is more concerning is community awareness. People don’t seem to be concerned about throwing food away. I know this is a sweeping statement, and I’ve also read articles about nutrition and wellness, that it’s better to throw away food, than over eat. It’s a complex issues. It’s also hardly a consideration that other valuable resources are being wasted. Perhaps it is because most people buy food neatly packaged in a supermarket. It’s a commodity, much like everything else we consume.

If, from a consumer perspective, the mandatory food waste collections start to change people’s perception of food and food waste, then it’s already a step in the right direction. Food waste is a resource that can and should be used, but a better option is to consider ways to improve the use of all resources and the whole product lifecycle.

How is food waste currently being addressed?

Many Local Authorities have already implemented schemes, providing communities with food waste bins, collection totes and compostable bags. Many people are already “trained” in the art of separation, and placing the designated bins outside for weekly collections. The councils collecting the food waste then process it to produce fertiliser and renewable energy. This is a fairly conventional approach that many local authorities take. It requires clear communication and engagement with households in order to be effective.

Another simple solution that has been fairly effective is the redistribution of food by Non-Profit Organisations. Retailers often discard food because of a “best before” date, dented packaging or minor bruising. The dual benefit is that the people most in need of food and nutrition get to enjoy a decent meal and the food is diverted from the waste stream. While this is an effective solution, those involved are very aware of the need to continue to reduce the volume of food set aside and labelled as waste.

This means addressing inefficiencies in the supply chain, in the production and processing of food, and looking for opportunities to use what’s discarded as a resource. In this area, technology has a role to play. By monitoring temperatures in transport and storage, spoilage can be reduced. Where spoilage does occur, fruit could be processed in alternate ways. For example, making puree or dried fruit products. The challenge is that achieving these outcomes requires someone who can both innovate and scale these types of solutions and see the commercial value in doing so.

Some of the most innovative solutions include reprocessing food waste to create food packaging. This eliminates the need for plastic packaging and has the advantage of being compostable. While these are good solutions, they reply on having very specific materials to work with. What is needed are better solutions for bulk mixed organic and food waste.

This is one of the major concerns for local authorities. Is there the capacity to effectively process the volumes of food waste currently being generated, and of next year, they will be obligated to collect it.

Perhaps options should be considered from a different perspective.

We know that we have vast volumes of food waste that could be a resource. What are the most pressing environmental issues that need to be addressed where food waste could be part of the solution?

Soil health, biodiversity loss, energy generation come to mind. Composting can be part of the solution but requires available land which is rarely an option in urban environments. Another alternative is to use biodigesters to produce natural gas that can be used as fuel. The drawback being cost and transporting the waste to these facilities.

There’s no single solution that will be best. However, with cross industry expertise, drawing on the vast knowledge base in the resource sector, I’ve no doubt that innovative and effective solutions can be created.