How Coles and SecondBite are transforming lives

How food rescue organisation Second Bite – in partnership with Coles – is providing a sustainable solution to food wastage and insecurity in Australia.

(L-R) Addison Road CEO Rosanna Barbero, SecondBite Chair Julian Martin and SecondBite driver Steve

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When Simone and Ian Carson founded SecondBite in 2005, they began collecting food at the end of trade at the Prahran market, providing around 1200 meals to local charities. In the last financial year, almost 20 years later, the organisation delivered more than 24 million kilograms of food to charities, the equivalent of more than 48m meals. With support from Coles, the charity has delivered 200m meals to those in need since the partnership began in 2011.

Reflecting on the last 18 years, Simone Carson says that she is “proud of what [SecondBite] have been able to contribute to the understanding of food waste, and starting a conversation about just how much food goes to waste in Australia, which could be rescued and redistributed.”

Food insecurity, which often goes hand-in-hand with economic, health and housing insecurity, is experienced by around 4 to 13 per cent of the general population, a figure that increases to 22 per cent in Indigenous Australian communities.

With a goal to ensure that quality food doesn’t end up in landfills, and is instead redistributed to those who need it, SecondBite collects quality, nutritious food to promote a sustainable way to combat food insecurity.

Founders of SecondBite, Ian and Simone Carson.

“That is the whole ethos of our organisation – if we can stop food from going to landfill and all the associated greenhouse gases, and instead provide it to charities with food programs, we’re achieving our goals of ending waste and ending hunger.

“The 24m kg of food that was diverted from waste last year meant that thousands of tonnes of CO2 emissions were prevented,” she explains.

SecondBite’s biggest corporate partner and largest donor, Coles, has been one of the most integral parts of the organisation’s exponential growth.

Ms Carson says that the company “simply couldn’t have expanded at the scale we have over the past 11 years without their support.”

“For example, apart from providing food, they conduct major fundraising appeals in winter and at Christmas for SecondBite. This raises awareness of what we do and how we support Australians in need.

“Of course, the funds raised through Coles appeals and other activities have allowed us to grow our infrastructure and resourcing to support the work we do.

“Over the years our relationship has strengthened and deepened. They now support us with introductions to their suppliers, with logistics advice and of course with raising awareness of the work we do.”

Addison Road Community Organisation, known to locals as Addi Road, is a community centre based in Sydney’s Inner West that is a regular recipient of food from SecondBite, as well as a Coles Nurture Fund grant.

(L-R) Soijan Thapa, Rosanna Barbero (Addi Rd chief executive), Julian Martin, Yodit, Veronica Adler, Mohan Mallola

“Addi Road was able to provide food aid to 380,000 people in 2022 alone because of the contribution, support and assistance from the Coles Nurture Fund and SecondBite,” says Addi Road chief executive officer Rosanna Barbero.

A grassroots charity organisation, Ms Barbero says that the financial and food assistance from the two organisations gave Addi Road a boost that otherwise, for a centre that relies on community donations, would have struggled during the cataclysmic impacts of the pandemic, inflation and rising costs of living.

“SecondBite is the only food rescue organisation that provided us with groceries and did not charge us,” she says.

With funding from the Coles Nurture Fund Addi Road installed solar panels, allowing it to “run their crucial food hub warehouse operation on solar power,” leading to significant savings on energy bills. The Nurture Fund also bankrolled two e-charging stations for Addi Road’s EPA-funded e-van.

“In addition, the Coles Nurture Fund funded the establishment of our kitchen, which further diverts and extends food waste going into landfill and provides culturally nutritional meals to our community, as well as giving people the opportunity to learn how to prepare low cost nutritional meals,” says Ms Barbero.

Addison Road volunteers preparing food in the 'zero waste, zero emissions' kitchen as helped funded by the Coles Nurture Fund

As the cost of living crisis hits amid inflation and global supply shortages, disadvantaged communities in Australia remain the most vulnerable. Support for these communities remains crucial as ever.

“We are in regular contact with our 1100 charity partners, and they tell us that they are seeing more and more working families needing food relief. There is a significant increase in the numbers and types of people seeking food relief.

“That’s a result of interest rate increases, rental rises and bill pressures which are taking up the bulk of working Australians’ wages, such that many have nothing left over for food,” says Ms Carson.

Organisations on the ground, like Addi Road, echo this sentiment. For charities at the grassroots level, Ms Barbero says that they have “experienced an increase in need by 30 per cent year on year – a 185 per cent increase in people who have zero funds to pay for food.”

Coles team members with Addison Road volunteer Yodit and SecondBite chair Julian Martin

Coles General Manager of Sustainability Brooke Donnelly said, “Coles’ partnership with SecondBite is instrumental in achieving our purpose to sustainably help all Australians lead healthier, happier lives and we’re incredibly proud to have reached this milestone of having donated the equivalent 200 million meals to SecondBite over 12 years.”

“We’re also delighted to celebrate this milestone at Addi Road, a prime example of our partnership with SecondBite in sustainability and supporting local communities.”

As for their future work, SecondBite maintains that collaboration is the key to success, growth and achieving their goal of making a difference.

Through their partnerships with organisations like Coles, Ms Carson says that while they can’t be the only solution to the problem, they can still do their best to end hunger and waste with the work that they do.

“Through working with and alongside others I hope that we can deliver more quality food to the people who need it most.

There are too many Australians who have to make difficult choices about paying bills or putting food on the table,” she says.

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This content was produced in association with Coles. Read our policy on commercial content here.

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