Did you know that Nationally 40% of fruits and vegetables grown in Australia never make it to the produce shelf, on top of that, one fifth of the food we are buying is being thrown in the bin.

This translates to a staggering $8 billion of food every year that is transferred straight to landfill.

Food waste is a global issue but it also affects us all locally. We may not see it but our local grocers, bakeries and supermarkets are throwing out an unimaginable amount of perfectly edible food every week.

Why?

Big Supermarkets have adopted fresh produce grading systems based solely on the appearance of fruits and vegetables, rather than taste or nutrition.

Food is also given an expiration date and yes the ‘Use By’ date is required by law but only for certain types of food such as dairy. However you might not know that the ‘Best Before’ date has been adopted, with the hope to move more product off the shelf. We are therefore led to believe that this food is no longer edible and needs to be discarded.

So why is all of this food is waste a problem?

When this food finds itself in landfill across Australia it breaks down, releasing methane gas. This is 25 times more potent than carbon pollution from cars! It ends up in our atmosphere, compounding the greenhouse effect to our planet, not to mention its contribution to climate change.