If you love food don’t waste it

The Palaszczuk Government is urging Queenslanders to adopt new strategies to avoid wasting food and to divert unwanted organic material away from landfill to be recycled.

Environment Minister Meaghan Scanlon today unveiled the Queensland Organics Strategy and Action Plan 2022-2032 which challenges Queenslanders to have a better relationship with their food and to slash what they throw in their rubbish bins.

“This is our 10-year strategy to turn discarded organic material into a valuable and useful commodity, delivering social, economic and environmental benefits for everyone,” Minister Scanlon said.

“The Strategy and Action Plan is the result of an extensive consultation process over the past year which included a survey, written submissions, workshops and information sessions.

“We waste too much food, leaving it to be dumped in landfill, while others go hungry.

“This is not only having an increasing cost on our household budgets - estimated at $2,200 a year - but on our environment as unwanted food and garden waste dumped in landfill produces damaging methane gas.

“By 2030, we want to halve the amount of food waste generated, divert 80 per cent of the organic material going to landfill, and achieve a 70 per cent recycling rate for organics.”

With Food Action Week just two weeks away, Minister Scanlon also launched the Queensland Government’s three-week ‘Love Food, Hate Waste’ challenge.

“I call on Queenslanders to get involved and sign up to adopt easy actions to help cut their household food waste,” Minister Scanlon said.

“Participants will also go in the running to win a prize at the end of the challenge – with ten blenders up for grabs as well as ‘use-it-up’ tape labels to remind you food is about to expire.

“Materials will be made available for councils, students, teachers and households across the state to kick start our efforts to reduce food waste.”

The launch took place at FareShare in Brisbane, a food rescue charity which turns excess food into free, nutritious meals for people in need.

“FareShare’s facility at Morningside is already achieving great things thanks to a $160,000 Palaszczuk Government ‘Food Rescue’ grant,” Minister Scanlon said.

“This funding will ensure they can greatly increase their storage and rescue capacity by constructing a second cool room, purchasing a forklift, and hiring an extra staff member.”

The Queensland Government has a number of measures already underway, delivering on the actions in the Organics Strategy, including:

• $2.1 billion waste package over the next ten years which includes the $1.1 billion Recycling and Jobs Fund to support increased household recycling, help build new resource recovery infrastructure, and create more jobs in more industries.
• Nearly $1 million in Food Rescue grants for Fareshare, Foodbank, SecondBite, IFYS Urban Angels Community Kitchen, Ozharvest and The Rock Family and Community Support to divert surplus food away from landfill and help Queenslanders experiencing food insecurity.
• $770,000 to support Food Organics, Garden Organics (FOGO) Kerbside Collection Trials in Townsville, Rockhampton, and Lockyer Valley.
• Nearly $500,000 Organics Waste Smart Schools Program to help state schools improve the management of food waste in the schoolyard.
• $11 million in grants committed through the Food Waste for Healthy Soils Program to support new and improved organic waste recycling infrastructure.

The  Queensland Organic Strategy and Action Plan and entry to the ‘Love Food, Hate Waste’ challenge can be found here:  www.qld.gov.au/foodwastechallenge

ENDS

Footage of THE FareShare Kitchen in action: https://www.dropbox.com/s/twot79xxnhb782j/Fareshare%20Overlay.mp4?dl=0