Heritage and OzHarvest urge Australians to end food waste - and save $2500 a year
3 November 2021
Heritage Bank are supporting OzHarvest in their fight against food waste by raising awareness of the amount of food that goes to waste from our homes.
Customers will see a giant mound of food in the middle of the Westfield Garden City Shopping Centre in Brisbane this week, which is a graphic representation of what we waste individually each year.
Recent research has found that Australian households collectively waste 2.5 million tonnes of food a year. The most commonly wasted food items include fruit and vegetables, bread, bagged salad, meat and leftovers.
That’s a whopping 312kg each, which can cost households up to $2500 each year. But the good news is that food waste at home can be easily avoided.
Heritage Bank and leading food rescue organisation OzHarvest have joined forces to urge Australians to stop wasting perfectly good food.
As a national partner of OzHarvest, Heritage is marking the first anniversary of their partnership with the display, which is on Level 2 of the Town Square Precinct in the Westfield Garden City Shopping Centre.
The display features information giveaways and kids’ activities, as well as Heritage’s mascot, the giant-sized Priscilla the Pig, to add to the impact.
Heritage CEO Peter Lock said the needless waste of food was even more alarming considering how many Australians experience food insecurity every day.
“We know from OzHarvest that food waste is a $36.6 billion problem in Australia each year, while 5.5 million people experience food insecurity.
“It’s crazy that so many of us waste so much food each year, which can cost up to $2,500, while so many other people are often unsure where their next meal is coming from.
“Our partnership with OzHarvest helps stop good food going to waste and makes sure it goes to people in need.. Last year this partnership delivered an additional 200,000 meals to vulnerable Australians, and prevented 126,666kg of greenhouse emissions from going into the environment.
“We’d encourage you to drop into our display at Westfield Garden City, find out information about food waste, and learn how you can be part of the solution.”
OzHarvest Engagement Manager, Michaela Windsor said tackling household food waste is crucial to achieving the national goal of halving food waste by 2030.
“It’s shocking to think that 70% of the food we waste is perfectly edible, while there are still so many people who are hungry. Reducing food waste at home is something everyone can do and will help save food, save money and save the planet!”
In Brisbane, OzHarvest has nine trucks on the road every week saving 30,000kg of perfectly good food from going to landfill. Which supports more than 140 charities across Brisbane, Ipswich, Logan, Redlands, Caboolture and everywhere in between.
The display at the Westfield Garden City Shopping Centre will be staffed from 9am-5am each day until Saturday, and from 9am -9pm on Thursday.
