The Cost of Household Food Waste Revealed

Dunedin (Thursday, 12 March) - The Dunedin City Council is joining the national Love Food Hate Waste campaign to encourage residents to reduce their household food waste.

The campaign is being led by councils around New Zealand and is supported by research based on surveying 1,365 New Zealanders. The contents of 1,396 household rubbish bins were also examined and 100 families were given diaries to record food disposal for a week.

The research produced the following findings.

• It is estimated Kiwis spend $872 million a year on food that then gets thrown away uneaten.

• In terms of quantity that equals over 124,300 tonnes of food a year – enough to feed around 266,680 people, or the entire population of Dunedin more than twice over.

• Bread, fruit, vegies and meal leftovers are the most commonly discarded foods.

• The average household sends around 79 kg of edible food to landfills every year.

• Avoidable food waste costs the average New Zealand household over $563 a year, which equates to nearly $45 million for the Otago region as a whole.

The research also showed most people do not realise how much good food they are throwing away and how much it is costing them.

“This is as much a local issue as a national one,” says Councillor Kate Wilson.

“In 2012, 23% of all material sent to landfill was organic – this included food waste. Processing organic waste is costly and by scaling back food waste we will also reduce landfill costs. There are simple things each of us can do to save money and prevent waste and this is what this campaign hopes to achieve.”

Two key groups who waste significant amounts of food were families with children and young people aged 18-24 years old.

Claire Salmond, studying food waste at the University of Otago has been involved in an assignment on household food waste.

"Learning about food waste really opened my eyes. I never realised we wasted so much. It's exciting to be part of the Love Food Hate Waste project and see how some of the work we have done at university is being put into action and used by councils around the country," she says.

"The research showed that in families with school aged children, lunchbox waste, fussy eating and portion sizes were the big issues.”

She also recognises food waste in her home life.

"I flat here in Dunedin and even though we are on a tight budget it is surprising how much food we end up wasting – we buy for the week and don't always end up using it all, we also sometimes cook too much and the leftovers don't get eaten."

Love Food Hate Waste aims to bring the problem into the public eye and to provide information to help Kiwis cut down on food waste by giving helpful tips about planning food purchases and meals, being smart about food storage and being creative with leftovers.

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