Foodbank, the Australian Food & Grocery Council (AFGC) and the Australian Institute of Packaging (AIP) are among 17 members forming the new $4 million body to help reduce the nation’s food waste by 2030.
The newly formed Stop Food Waste Australia organisation, supported by the Morrison Government, will bring together businesses and organisations across the entire food sector – including supply chain management, food waste NGOs and tiers of government – to tackle Australia’s food waste problem.
Minister for the Environment Sussan Ley said Australians have focused on recycling for years, but very few of us think about the amount of food that we waste every week.
“To put it in perspective, every year, we throw away more than 7.3 million tonnes of food at a cost to the economy of more than $20 billion and on average, households are throwing away up to $3800 of food a year,” said Ley.
“Stop Food Waste Australia will work with industry to create real, practical changes that help everyday Australians reduce their food waste like adding clearer instructions on packaging for storage or creating consistent package design with easier to find use by or packed by dates.”
Stop Food Waste Australia CEO Dr Steven Lapidge said the body has a passionate and committed group of Australian food industry leaders around the table.
“Between all our Stop Food Waste Australia partners, we work across the entire food supply chain and that is exactly what is needed to tackle the system-wide problem of food waste here in Australia.”
AIP Executive Director Nerida Kelton said being part of Stop Food Waste Australia allows the AIP to continue this conversation and raise awareness for the important role that packaging can play in minimising food waste.
“The work that the AIP is undertaking on developing guidelines and criteria for improved Save Food Packaging Design aims to minimise food waste wherever possible, across the supply chain,” Kelton.
Stop Food Waste Australia members include:
- ACT NoWaste
- Australian Food & Grocery Council
- Australian Food Cold Chain Council
- Australian Institute of Packaging
- Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment
- Fight Food Waste Cooperative Research Centre
- Foodbank
- Green Industries South Australia
- National Farmers Federation
- National Retail Association
- New South Wales Environment Protection Authority
- OzHarvest
- Queensland Department of Environment and Science
- SecondBite
- Sustainability Victoria
- Waste and Resource Action Programme (United Kingdom)
- Western Australia Department of Water and Environmental Regulation
