
Reducing food waste
Globally an estimated one third of all the food we produce is lost or wasted between farm and fork each year. That’s 1.3 billion tonnes of food that is never eaten.
Globally an estimated one third of all the food we produce is lost or wasted between farm and fork each year. That’s 1.3 billion tonnes of food that is never eaten.
Our Ministry has supported a number of initiatives to reduce food waste through the Waste Minimisation Fund (WMF). Some projects and organisations we have supported include:
The 2021 round for the WMF included the following strategic outcome and investment signals for food waste.
Achieving beneficial outcomes for organic waste.
You can find out more about the fund, including past projects, here.
Actions to address food and organic waste will be a key part of the Government’s emissions reduction plan and upcoming new national strategy for waste.
We consulted on a proposal to separate food scraps from general waste for all businesses. The proposal was one of three we consulted on as part of the Transforming Recycling consultation. The consultation closed on 22 May.
Officials are analysing submissions for the three proposals. We received over 6,000 submissions from stakeholders including the general public, councils, NGOs, businesses and the beverage industry.
The summary of submissions is likely to be published later this year. It will include how many submissions were received for each proposal. The expected timing of Cabinet decisions is late 2022.
Read about the proposal: Separation of food scraps from general waste for all businesses
The Ministry for Social Development provides support for the food rescue sector through its Food Secure Communities programme.
In addition to funding local community food providers, the programme also helped to establish three national partner organisations:
The Ministry for Primary Industries administers the Food Act 2014. MPI has developed advice on:
These pages provide useful information on:
There are a large number of not-for-profit and community organisations active in reducing food waste, from food rescue organisations to waste educators. They include: