Food waste costs Australian households up to $3,000 a year

Jul 13, 2023

As a nation, Australians are throwing too much food in the bin.

Australians waste about 7.6 million tonnes of food every year across the supply and consumption chain — that is about 312 kilograms per person.

This waste costs the economy around $36.6 billion each year and accounts for about 3 per cent of Australia's annual greenhouse gas emissions.

And it is not just the end product that gets wasted — but all of the effort fertilising, irrigating, and transporting the food to the supermarket.

OzHarvest CEO and founder Ronni Kahn AO said throwing out one burger, with the meat, bread, and salads wasted the equivalent amount of water as running a shower for 90 minutes.

"It is shocking, and it is so confronting when you think about it in those terms," she said.

"About one in five shopping bags goes to waste."

"It's costing every household somewhere between $2,000 and $3,000 a year."

Ms Kahn said the convenience of supermarkets had led to shoppers devaluing produce.

"We have shops available 24/7 and we don't really think about what it costs us to produce that food," she said.

"The energy, labour, fuel, and all the other embedded costs.

"We have lost that sense of awareness around food."

Ms Kahn said supermarket specifications also added to the waste of fresh produce.

But the introduction of the slightly cheaper "ugly" or "imperfect" ranges on supermarket shelves had helped.

"We love this notion — at this time with the cost-of-living crisis, people are definitely heading to these products due to the discounts," Ms Kahn said.

"But I'm fascinated because it costs exactly the same to grow an ugly potato as a beautiful one.

"So, the discount is a little bit of a false economy — but it is good for us right now."

RMIT-led research found that unsuitable packaging sizes, poor purchasing habits, and date label confusion had contributed to the nation's food waste.

Associate Professor Lukas Parker said shoppers' concerns about food packaging had added to the problem, which had people storing food inadequately and resulted in food spoiling prematurely.

"There is a lot of talk about food packaging and its bad effects on the environment, which is completely understandable," Dr Parker said.

"Single-use plastics and the sorts of packaging that are clogging our waterways are a real problem — but so is food waste."

Dr Parker said some produce, such as meat, had almost no suitable packaging alternatives that were as effective and practical.

"Unfortunately, packaging may be unavoidable if we want to reduce food waste, so it's all about balancing how much plastic is used to save food from waste," he said.

"If we forgo the plastic packaging on some items like steak, it can lead to waste because it will impact the steak's shelf life."

Dr Parker said the collapse of soft plastic recycling program REDcycle resulted in shoppers avoiding packaged produce where possible.

"We've seen a lot in the media about recycling problems, dealing with plastics waste and other issues, and that's really at the front of mind," he said.

"Across the country we're seeing the roll out of food organic waste bins and other people have been using composts for a long time."

"We tend to think if we don't eat it, we can just put in the compost, which is better than putting it in the regular bin but the best thing to do is avoid putting anything in the bin."