Food Rescue Project Lead, Manawatū Food Action Network
Speaker Jono Naylor:
Though my life, when opportunities came along, I took them. That is how I became a Member of Parliament, Mayor, Social Worker, Guidance Counsellor, Gravedigger and Busker. My career has devoted my working life to helping individuals and communities realise their potential.
Though my life, when opportunities came along, I took them. That is how I became a Member of Parliament, Mayor, Social Worker, Guidance Counsellor, Gravedigger and Busker. My career has devoted my working life to helping individuals and communities realise their potential.
One such opportunity was Parliament; however, I quickly realised that Parliament was not for me. After Parliament, I took a gap year, and a different opportunity arose to get involved in the food rescue space.
How hard can it be, I thought, well it is more complex than you first would imagine
Food waste is a big deal; over one-third of all food produced is waste. 10 to 15% is never harvested. Much of it deems not pretty enough to be marketed and is ploughed back into the ground. There is a vast difference between what is edible and what is marketable. We essentially have the supermarkets to thank for that, although this is changing with Countdown now selling some less-than-perfect food as "odd box" products.
Households also throw away significant amounts of food; nationally, 13% of our rubbish is food. The average family throws out $1570 worth of food per year.
Food waste is responsible for 6 to 7% of greenhouse gas emissions. If food waste was compared to county greenhouse gas output, it would only be outranked by the US and China. In New Zealand, food waste is equivalent to the production of 150,000 cars.
All edible food should be eaten by humans, if not suitable for human consumption, fed to animals, and then composted rather than sent to waste.
My job is to capture the most edible food from the local economy and ensure it is eaten. An interesting dilemma is: best before and uses by dates. Best-before dates are worthless. They act as a marketing strategy and are responsible for food waste. There needs to be consistency in how BB dates are applied or used; similarly, when food is donated, BB dates can limit use by rescue organisations. Use common sense – use the sniff test.
There are two drivers in food rescue, one is waste minimisation, and the other is to feed the hungry. Just because food can be rescued – should it be? Micro versus macro problems, you can not save the world one muffin at a time after the call.
After the pickers have been through, groups like Manawatu Community Fruit Harvest pick the remaining product for community food rescue groups, e.g. Zilch. Some of the issues at play are current players' capacity to increase capacity and reach, both increasing the size and ability of current providers and bringing new providers to the market. Another issue is community education and resetting public expectations. https://enm.org.nz/
Economically very sustainable, spend $1 in food rescue and get a return of $4.50 in social currency.