Every day, Australia’s hospitality sector wastes enough food to fill the Melbourne Cricket Ground to the brim 1.5 times, according to End Food Waste Australia (EFWA).
That’s the equivalent of 4.6 million meals, more than 1.2 million tonnes of food waste every year or 16% of Australia’s food waste.
If you’re not getting the point, EFWA puts it another way: a typical café can generate an annual food-waste volume equivalent to 70,000 cups of coffee per employee each year, while in catering, 20% of the food served is never eaten.
(Nationally, the whole Australian population creates an estimated 7.6 million tonnes of food waste annually, costing the national economy more than $36.6 billion, even though 70% is edible and 3.4 million households struggled to put a meal on the table last year, according to Food Bank.)
In an industry where margins are notoriously tight, food waste in restaurants and hospitality affects every level of operation and translates into lost revenue, bloated supply budgets and hidden labour expenses.
But it can be reduced, even eliminated.
Responding to the Environmental Protection Authority’s goal to halve food waste going to landfill by 2030, Blue Mountains City Council in NSW has partnered with End Food Waste Australia to pilot a precinct study of cafés, restaurants and hotels in Katoomba.
The Separating Business Food Waste – Katoomba Project includes a free mobile Bin Trim app that categorises and quantifies organic waste, packaging and plate scrapings so operators can see their waste streams.
The insights gathered will underpin a toolkit covering waste audits, training modules and ideal collection schedules that’s slated for rollout across the region.
Upcycling from the outset
IKU managing director Russell Johnson says the Sydney-based wholefoods meal delivery company donates to charity as much excess food as possible and composts the rest to avoid it going to landfill.
Food waste has been a focus throughout the company’s 40-year history, with veggie offcuts and peelings upcycled into stocks from the outset.
Similarly meat bones, while coffee grounds can become compost fodder.
Shifting the business model to a centralised kitchen where customer meals are prepackaged rather than purchased from a remote retail store has had a massive impact on food waste, Johnson says.
“It allows us to order food specifically for people’s orders rather than making an assumption on what we think each of the 12 stores would do and managing waste independently.”
Cooking larger batches in a centralised kitchen reduces energy consumption and IKU buys “ugly” fruit and vegetables and upcycles them in meals: “Other than visual, there’s not really much difference between a wonky zucchini and a straight zucchini.”
Staff are encouraged to dispose of their food waste in a semi-commercial composter in the company’s Bondi office, and they can then take the compost to use on their home gardens.
IKU has also partnered with Sydney-based Pocket City Farms by sponsoring school workshops where children learn about food waste, waste mitigation, upcycling food products and composting.
Zero waste must be a collective goal for the whole industry from suppliers, retailers and food manufacturers to restaurants, cafes and hotels.
“Change is driven by demand and innovation by businesses like IKU just constantly banging the drum, making these small impressions daily,” Johnson says.
“It’s much easier not to do it, both from a cost perspective and effort perspective.
“But the more we do it, the more it becomes the norm. The more we have apartment blocks in Bondi [Sydney] of 16 households with a worm farm outside, the more it becomes just accepted and easy.”
Food waste causes
- Over-portioning and buffet models that encourage diners to plate more than they can eat
- Fluctuations in guest numbers driven by weather, events or seasonal trends
- Date-label confusion over the difference between “best-before” and “use-by”
- Over-prepping (eg: mass-chopping herbs) and improper cold-chain practices accelerate spoilage
- Lack of staff training in waste-minimisation protocols
