Cost conscious Australians are adjusting household behaviours but untapped cost savings lie in Food Waste

This International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste, Hellmann’s and WRAP release a new four market study ^[2] on latest food waste behaviours. 

The study indicates that nearly half of respondents throw away as much food or more than they did this time last year ^[3], revealing an opportunity for consumers to save more by reducing waste in their homes. For one in three Australians, the amount of food they waste is equivalent to putting one shopping bag of food ^[4] in the rubbish each week. 

On average, food waste costs the average Australian household between $2,170 and $2,700 per year ^[5], with one in two study respondents underestimating the cost savings of reducing their waste.

And it isn’t just wallets that are left counting the cost when it comes to food waste, one-third of all food produced for human consumption globally is lost or wasted, contributing as much as 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions ^[6] - and 32% of Australia’s 7.6 million tonnes of food waste happens in people’s homes ^[7].

The report shows

• 86% of Australians say their food bill has increased in the last 12 months.
• 77% are worried about future household food costs, with 71% looking to make further household budget cuts, and
• Nearly half (49%) are switching to somewhere cheaper to food shop than their usual shop, with nearly half (47%) cutting back on the amount they spend on the weekly food shopping.

However, one in three (30%) of Australians say they throw away at least one shopping bag of food waste away each week.

The most binned items by Australians are vegetables (29%), fruit (22%), leafy greens (24%) and baked goods (21%). Respondents said the reasons for this vary from not knowing where to get tips to avoid wasting food (43%), with one quarter (25%) bored of the same meals. A further 18% struggle to cook and use food before its expiry date, and another 18% feel they lack creativity.

Luckily, WRAP and Hellmanns found that when told they can save money each week, seven in ten Australians say they are going to be more resourceful with their food in future, and try to avoid food going to waste.

Claire Kneller, Managing Director, WRAP Asia-Pacific, “Australia wastes around 7.6 million tonnes of food every year, enough to fill the MCG ten times over. Half of that happens at the consumption end of the supply chain, where food is eaten. Households alone throw away between $2,170 and $2,700 worth of food on average, every year. But our latest research shows that when showed how much money they could save by preventing food waste, the majority said they were going to be more resourceful.

The National Food Waste Strategy Feasibility Study, co-authored by WRAP and published in 2021, shows that it is possible to halve Australia’s food waste by 2030. With less than eight years to go it requires unprecedented action by governments, industry and the community. In particular, we must slash household food waste by 30%.  Doing this would save Australian consumers 33 billion dollars and prevent 12 million tonnes of CO2 emissions.  WRAP Asia Pacific and Fight Food Waste are partnering to help deliver these savings.”

WRAP first raised the issue of food waste in its ground-breaking report on UK household food waste more than fifteen years ago. This showed for the first time the environmental and economic cost of wasting food. Since then, the internationally renowned climate action NGO has run the Love Food Hate Waste campaign to help people avoid the common triggers of food waste at home with information, advice and tactics to make the most of their food and save money.

The organisation recently opened its first international office in Adelaide in the offices of Fight Food Waste Australia, as WRAP Asia Pacific. The move will expand its ground-breaking work in food, plastics, and textiles sustainability far beyond the immediate boundaries of Australia with the office acting as a base for work in China, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, Vietnam, the Pacific Islands, and New Zealand.

WRAP Asia-Pacific is supporting Stop Food Waste Australia to deliver the Australian Food Pact. The Pact brings together Australia’s biggest food businesses to help tackle food waste in the country in a powerful partnership of organisations who operate along the farm-to-fork food supply chain. The signatories have committed to reducing Australia’s 7.6 million tonnes of food waste by half by 2030.

Each year, WRAP’s Love Food Hate Waste campaign hosts the annual Food Waste Action Week to raise awareness of environmental consequences of wasting food and promote food waste reduction.  In 2021, Food Waste Action Week reached more than 8 million people, with half taking action to reduce their food waste at home, and the third annual Food Waste Action Week will take place March 6-12, 2023.