Food waste fixes

Published on 10 March 2022

Food Waste Action Week runs from 7-13 March and Whanganui District Council’s climate change advisor, Caroline Arrowsmith, is encouraging households to think about ways to minimise food waste.

She says the average New Zealand household wastes $644 of edible food per year.

“In total, New Zealand’s annual food waste would be nearly enough to feed the entire population of Dunedin for three years.”

She says bread, fruit and leftovers are the most common types of food we’re wasting.

“Food waste going into rubbish bins is a huge environmental problem,” Caroline Arrowsmith says.

“When food waste ends up in a landfill it doesn’t break down in the same way it would in a compost bin at home. 

“The rubbish is compacted and the landfill is sealed to make sure there is as little air inside the landfill as possible. The food waste then decomposes without oxygen, producing methane – a potent greenhouse gas which accelerates climate change.” 

Caroline Arrowsmith says, “Internationally, if food waste were a country it would be the third largest producer of carbon emissions behind China and the United States”.

She says “composting is climate action” because it turns a potentially harmful waste product into a valuable resource that returns nutrients to the soil.

Last year the council’s elected members voted in principle to introduce a weekly kerbside collection for food waste from mid-2024 (as well as kerbside recycling from mid-2023).

Households would be issued with two bins for food waste – a small ‘kitchen caddy’ 7 litre bin with compostable liners and a 23 litre outside bin that’s placed at the kerbside each week.

As well as taking raw food scraps, the service would be able to collect cooked food, dairy, meat, fish and some compostable packaging to turn into compost.

The council’s general manager – property and open spaces, Sarah O’Hagan, says central government is likely to require all councils to provide a kerbside food waste collection in coming years.

“The next stage in our process is consulting the community on service details and costs as part of our Long-Term Plan Amendment and Annual Plan 2022-23 consultation, opening on 29 March.”

For tips on avoiding food waste, visit: www.lovefoodhatewaste.com