Love Food Challenge aims to cut waste, save money

THE Love Food Challenge could save you $1000 a year and help reduce the vast quantities of food wasted in Australia each year.

Mayor Jenny Dowell and NE Waste Education Coordinator Linda Tohver (left) enjoy a waste-free breakfast with Richmond Hill resident and Love Food Challenge participant Christine Freeman and her children (l-r) Sam, 7, Dylan, 11, and Jaimie, 9. Photo Contributed. Picture: Contributed

LISMORE Mayor Jenny Dowell is encouraging locals to get on board with the Love Food Challenge, which could save you $1000 a year and help reduce the vast quantities of food wasted in Australia each year.

Cr Dowell said that Australians could save $8 billion a year by cutting food waste through better planning, shopping, cooking and storing of food.

"On average, in NSW, one in five shopping bags of groceries ends up in the bin - that amount of food waste is a huge cost, not just to your pocket but also to the environment," Cr Dowell said.

"It amounts to more than $1000 per household each year that could be saved by avoiding wasting food in the first place."

The Love Food Challenge came about after a community consultation by NE Waste to identify the main reasons that food is being wasted, particularly in families with children, NE Waste Education Coordinator Linda Tohver said.

The project is supported by the NSW EPA's Waste Less, Recycle More initiative, funded from the NSW waste levy.

"We wanted to know what the issues were for families and find out what might help them overcome these barriers," Ms Tohver said.

The financial implications of food waste are significant, with young people, families with children and high income earners the greatest food waste offenders according to a NSW EPA report commissioned as part of the Love Food Hate Waste program.

The environmental implications are also serious.

"I was shocked to learn that discarding 1kg of beef also wastes 50,000 litres of water that was used to manufacture the food," Ms Tohver said.

"I had only thought about the waste implications of my own food scraps but now I am very aware the waste implications are much, much broader."

Richmond Hill resident Christine Freeman has signed up for the Love Food Challenge and believes it's important to teach her three children good food habits.

"The Love Food Challenge is such a great idea - I thought I was pretty good and I give any food waste we have to the chickens, but I have learnt some great tips and recipes by signing up," she said.

"By not creating food waste we save money and resources. We're conscious of what's happening with the environment and we want to teach our children not to waste things - we want that to be normal."

For further information visit www.newaste.org.au.