New Zealand Food Waste Champions (NZFWC), WasteMINZ, Para Kore Marae Incorporated and a consortium of retirement village providers led by the University of Otago project Food Waste Innovation Otago (FWIO) - including Arvida, Bupa and the Retirement Villages Association - will receive funding over the next three years from the Climate Emergency Response Fund (CERF).
The Associate Minister for the Environment Rachel Brooking met representatives from NZFWC, WasteMINZ and FWIO yesterday at the university.
This was a "multi-pronged" effort to address New Zealand’s food waste problem, she said.
"We have to tackle the problem at every step of the way, from food production to food consumption.
"The organisations getting support [yesterday] will work with the Ministry for the Environment over the next three years to help build wider understanding of the scale of the problem, and aim to cut their food waste by 10%."
There was 157,000tonnes of food that could feed 336,000 people for a year wasted every year in New Zealand.
"Every year, we waste enough food to feed more than the populations of Dunedin and Hamilton combined.
"This is obviously a waste of money and resources, especially when many people are finding it tough at the moment."
Food waste was bad for the environment, and as it decomposed in rubbish tips it produced methane - a climate-damaging greenhouse gas.
New Zealand was committed to cutting the amount of methane in the air by 10% by 2030 and between 24% and 47% by 2050.
The four projects ranged from providing public education on how to cut waste at home to reducing the amount of food being wasted in large retirement villages.
The project led by FWIO received $230,000 to address food waste in retirement communities.
Research lead Prof Miranda Mirosa said by identifying how much food was wasted and changing existing practices the amount of waste in landfills could be reduced.
"There is currently no sector-wide data on it, but we do know about 30million lunches and dinners are made in commercial kitchens in the industry each year, which provides plenty of scope to reduce waste - from ordering, to preparation and leftovers".
By Mark John
