1. Food waste avoidance in NSW
EPA12/0946
Love Food Hate Waste
Food waste avoidance in NSW
Presenter to introduce themselves and their work with LFHW

2. Contents
This presentation provides essential background to the Love Food Hate Waste campaign.
The following slides cover:
The food waste issue
The costs of food waste
Why we waste food
Who is wasting food
Program resources
What’s the issue with food waste?
Waste audits conducted by local councils indicate that food is the single largest component (40.2% by weight) of the domestic kerbside waste stream in NSW. Approximately 800,000 tonnes of household food waste is now disposed to landfill across NSW every year.
In Sydney, a further 300,000 tonnes of food waste is disposed of by businesses every year. Quantities of food waste outside of Sydney are unknown. Total food waste disposed to landfill each year now amounts to over 1.14 million tonnes.
According to extensive research in the UK, it is estimated that 60 per cent of all food waste is avoidable.

3. Food waste – what is the issue?
In NSW alone, 1.2 million tonnes of food is sent to landfill annually
800,000 tonnes of this is from households while another 400,000 tonnes is from business
Food is the largest component of household waste
More than one third of the average household garbage bin is filled with food waste each week
What’s the issue with food waste?
Waste audits conducted by local councils indicate that food is the single largest component (40.2% by weight) of the domestic kerbside waste stream in NSW. Approximately 800,000 tonnes of household food waste is now disposed to landfill across NSW every year.
In Sydney, a further 300,000 tonnes of food waste is disposed of by businesses every year. Quantities of food waste outside of Sydney are unknown. Total food waste disposed to landfill each year now amounts to over 1.14 million tonnes.
According to extensive research in the UK, it is estimated that 60 per cent of all food waste is avoidable.

4. Environmental costs of food waste
When food waste breaks down in landfill it produces methane - a greenhouse gas 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide
The food supply chain generates 23 per cent of Australia’s total Greenhouse Gas emissions (Garnaut, 2007), second only to power stations
When food is wasted the natural resources, nutrients, energy and water invested by the supply chain are lost/wasted

5. Financial costs of food waste
NSW households throw away $2.5 billion worth of edible food each year
Fresh food ($848M) and leftovers ($694M) are thrown away in greatest quantities
Each NSW household throws away more than $1,000 worth of edible food each year
Up to 60% of food waste may be potentially ‘avoidable’ (WRAP, 2008)

6. Avoidable versus unavoidable
Love Food Hate Waste focuses on reducing the amount of avoidable food waste being thrown away
Avoidable food waste is:
Food that could have been eaten but instead was thrown away.
It was wasted because we:
forgot about leftovers
made unnecessary purchases
over catered
did not store food correctly.
Unavoidable food waste is:
Food that is not usually eaten such as:
eggs shells
meat bones
teabags
fruit & vegetable peelings.
WRAP data suggests that 60% of all food waste is avoidable.
When we talk about food waste we can address it under two broad categories – avoidable and unavoidable. Avoidable food waste is the waste we produce because we have cooked more than we need, bought too much or forgotten about the leftovers at the back of the fridge. It is estimated that 60 per cent of the food thrown away could have been avoided through better planning and management. Unavoidable food waste is food waste that cannot usually be eaten – food items like pineapple skins, meat bones, teabags and vegetable peelings. There will always be some form of unavoidable food waste at the household level but we encourage you to compost it rather than putting it in the bin.
LFHW is an avoidance program – we’re focusing on avoiding the generation of food waste in the first place. And that is what LFHW is all about – helping households to avoid food waste.
Many programs focus on reuse and recycling and these are end of pipe solutions. We’re moving back up to the top of the hierarchy and re-focusing on avoidance.
We have found that this can be a challenging concept to communicate but avoidance has the greatest environmental outcomes and food is great way to begin the discussion about waste avoidance.
This graphic demonstrates the hidden costs of waste and if you flip it around – the environmental and economic savings that can be made by avoiding food waste.

7. Why do we waste food in NSW?
Buy too much
Not planning meals in advance
Not shopping to a list
Not checking the cupboard, fridge or freezer before going shopping
Tempted by ‘2 for 1’ specials and deals in store
Cook too much
Desire to have more than not enough
Serving incorrect portion sizes
Family members don’t finish their meals
Poor storage of food
Forgetting about food and leftovers in the fridge/freezer
Unsure how to store food effectively
Leaving food in its original packaging
Why are we wasting food?
The answer is simple- simple, everyday behaviours are resulting in food waste in NSW.
We:
Buy too much
Not planning meals in advance
Not shopping to a list
Not checking the cupboard, fridge or freezer before going shopping
Tempted by ‘2 for 1’ specials and deals in store
Cook too much
Desire to have more than not enough
Serving incorrect portion sizes
Family members don’t finish their meals
Poor storage of food
Unsure how to store food effectively
Leaving food in its original packaging
Forgetting about food and leftovers in the fridge/freezer
The Love Food Hate Waste has been developed around these key areas to provide the community with easy and practical tips to reduce the amount of food being sent to landfill.
Each of these target groups were re-confirmed in the follow up tracking survey.
Some of you may also be interested in working with CALD communities in your area and LFHW is supportive of this.

8. Who is wasting food in NSW?
While we know that everyone wastes food, there are three groups that waste more than the average. These groups are:
18 – 24 year olds
High income households
Families with children.
These are the primary LFHW target audience.
While we know that everyone wastes food, Love Food Hate Waste has been focusing on some key target audiences. There has not been any shift in the target audience for the program. The tracking survey identified/confirmed that year olds, high income households and families with children are the groups wasting the largest quantities of food.
18-24 year olds:
Young consumers feel that a busy lifestyle makes it hard to avoid wasting food and they eat our regularly year olds are more keen to throw out foods without checking if they are consumable, such as leftovers and unopened packaged food past the best before date.
When shopping, younger consumers tend to buy in bulk, and buy good value deals even if more food than needed.
Encouragingly 57% of year olds expressed concern for the amount of food wasted. A key message for Love Food Hate Waste young consumers will be that meal planning and shopping can be flexible around your lifestyle.
High income households:
High income households eat out through the week and when they eat together at home members of their household often don’t eat the same meal.
When they do cook, they prefer to make more just in case and don’t consider portion sizes. This higher income group were not keen to change this routine, though they would prefer to use leftover food for other meals.
Higher income earners rarely purchased food according to a set budget, and were also quick to throw out less fresh food.
Encouragingly, over half indicate willingness to attend a ‘kitchen skills’ workshop to reduce their food wastage, and they are quite concerned about environmental problems in general.
Similar to the young consumers, a key Love Food Hate Waste message for this audience will be about planning meals that are flexible with your lifestyle and to consider portion sizes when cooking.
Families with children:
Families with children are likely to do one large shop where they frequently purchase items on special and in bulk- often buying what seems like the best value.
Families with children are likely to do one large shop, rather than purchasing small amounts regularly. They frequently buy food based on specials and choose best value items, and in-bulk where possible. Parents of children are less likely to check best before and use by dates on food when shopping.
Parents are more likely to feel that food given to pets or composted is not wasted. One in five families with kids already have a compost or worm farm, and those that don’t are more willing to start one to reduce the amount of food they waste.
In terms of reducing food waste, they are not particularly willing to buy less extra food in general, although they are more keen to stop buying unnecessary fresh produce.
When preparing meals, families with kids find it harder than other households to make meals from assorted ingredients that needed using up. However they are more likely to plan a weekly menu, and most are quite willing to start writing a shopping list based on a menu plan if not already doing so.
A key Love Food Hate Waste message for this audience will be about ensuring effective storage for bulk and special purchases and encouraging new behaviours like measuring portion sizes.
CALD
Through the benchmark study, CALD communities were also identified as high level wasters. However, in the study we are unable to differentiate between the different community groups. This is certainly an area that requires further research to understand community specific knowledge, attitudes and behaviours.
Understanding the attitudes, motivators and barriers of your audience is essential to designing a targeted program that will meet their needs.
Each of these groups have different attitudes and behaviours around food and food management and this can help to inform the design and delivery of your programs and communications

9. The target audience Target audience attitudes and behaviours
Key Love Food Hate Waste Messages
18-24 year olds
Despite high level knowledge about food waste, less likely to engage in food waste avoidance behaviours
Feel that a busy lifestyle makes it hard to avoid wasting food
Are more likely to throw out food without checking if it’s consumable, such as leftovers and unopened packaged food past the best before date
Tend to buy in bulk and buy value deals even if it is more than needed
Wasting the most food in volume and in dollars
Meal planning can be flexible and will save you money
Food is still safe to eat past its best before date as long as it has been stored correctly and not damaged
year olds express concern for the amount of food wasted
High income households
Often cook separate meals for family members. They prefer to make more just in case and are less likely to consider portion sizes
Rarely purchase food according to a budget or list and are quick to throw out fresh food
Would prefer to use leftover food for other meals.
Meal planning can be flexible
Consider portion sizes when cooking
Over half indicate a willingness to attend a ‘kitchen skills’ workshop to reduce their food waste, and they are quite concerned about environmental problems in general.
Families with children
are likely to do one large shop where they frequently purchase items on special and in bulk
47% buy food on special ‘most times’ or ‘always’
are less likely to check best before and use by dates when shopping
one in five families with children already have a compost or worm farm, and those that do not are more willing to start one
find it harder than other households to make meals from assorted ingredients that need using up.
ensure effective storage for bulk and special purchases and encourage new behaviours like measuring portion sizes.
they are more likely to plan a weekly menu, and most are quite willing to start writing a shopping list based on a menu plan.
In terms of reducing food waste, they are willing to stop buying unnecessary fresh produce.

10. CALD community
Social research shows that culturally and linguistically diverse communities also have high levels of food waste
Each cultural group has different attitudes and behaviours around food and food management
Understanding this can help inform the design and delivery of your programs and communications.

11. Resources available to partners
Love Food Hate Waste resources have positive and proven results with raising awareness about the food waste issue.
All resources have the same look and feel to maintain brand and message consistency.
Partners are strongly urged to make use of the Love Food Hate Waste resources to gain maximum benefit for their local education projects.

12. What resources are available?
Website
Contains plenty of useful information as well as YouTube clips, recipes and a serving size calculator
Style guide
Helps you develop Love Food Hate Waste resources
Posters
Great tool for engagement and catching attention
Menu planner
Great resource to provide to people to encourage behaviour change
Fact sheets
Provide information about why we waste food
Brochures
Provide an overview of the program
Pull-up banners
Can be used at events and are great for catching attention
Artwork
We have artwork available for aprons, shopping bags and magnets
Red lid bin sticker
To illustrate the proportion of different types of waste in the average NSW household bin
Resources available include:
DL brochure & A4 (colour and mono)
The brochures provides more detailed information to reinforce the other materials of the program.
The DL version is most suitable for distribution at events, on the counter or delivery by direct mail.
An A4 version is also available and may be more suitable for display purposes and distribution with other materials at workshops.
The front covers can be customised with partner logos and if possible printed in full colour, although a mono version is available if colour is not possible.
The inside information of the brochure introduces the ‘Buy It, Cook It and Save It’ messages around which the website is designed, providing advice on food planning, preparation and storage.
A3/A4 colour posters
These resources can be tailored with your own logo. They can be produced in A3 or A4 and should be in full colour.
Strip advertisements (colour and mono) for print advertising
The strip advertisements can be used for print purposes such as newspaper, magazine and newsletter advertising, preferably in colour although mono versions are available.
Note that they can only be enlarged to 20% larger than the original size of 264 x 90mm.
If different sizes are required, contact the team by ing
Banners for events
There are four banners available in portrait format measuring 840 x 2000mm.
OEH has two sets of LFHW banners which we are able to lend out if you have a special event.
Web tiles for website links
Two low-resolution web tiles are available so that partners can include these with a link to the program website from their own web pages.
Menu planner with shopping list
A useful menu plan with shopping list has been developed for printing either in colour or black and white.
Partners logos are able to be placed in the top right corner.
Fact sheets
Four fact sheets from the benchmark study have been developed are available on the website. These are unable to be co-branded.
We also have artwork for fridge magnets, shopping bags and aprons if you’d like to use them. Contact the team directly to get this artwork.

13. Can I tailor the resources?
Partners are invited to tailor the resources. Any modifications will need to be reviewed by the EPA.
The basic requirements are:
The NSW EPA and Love Food Hate Waste logos to be placed on the left
Partner logos must be 75% the height of the LFHW logo
Website and tagline are to be included
Images and logos are used correctly.
See the Style Guide for a full list of requirements
As a partner, if you are going to modify any of the existing LFHW materials, these will need to be reviewed and approved by OEH.
OEH is checking for:
Consistency in the use of the brand i.e. creative images, typography/fonts
Correct use of logos i.e. logo placement, logo size
Consistency in messaging i.e. ensuring that key messages are being promoted
All of this information is available in the LFHW style guide. It’s really important that we are all familiar with the style guide because if we can get the basics correct (logo sizes etc) then that will certainly help to make the approvals process more efficient at our end. From receiving the final artwork. OEH will require 3 days approval time.
Modifying materials may be as simple as inserting your organisation’s logo to existing materials (as per Hornsby example) or integrating LFHW logos and messaging throughout a publication (as per Southgate Shopping Centre calendar). Over on the ‘show and tell’ table we have some examples of the different ways that the LFHW brand has been incorporated into community projects.
The team is more than happy to discuss any ideas that you have for materials and provide support using the style guide.