Steve Rickerby runs WeCompost a business that collects food waste from Auckland CBD businesses and takes them out to Tuakau for compost.
The need to develop a local solution to the global food waste problem has led to the development of ReSource, the Thames food waste group.
ReSource is working with the Seagull Centre Trust and the Whangamatā Resource Recovery Trust to divert food waste from the landfill, transforming it into a resource.
The group is calling on Thames-Coromandel District Council to support home-scale food waste solutions, provide kerbside food waste collection and composting, support food businesses' waste minimisation, and deliver ongoing education campaigns.
A petition was launched to support these initiatives.
"Food wastage is a global problem that has lasting effects on the surrounding physical and cultural environment," says group member Maree Limpus of Thames.
In Aotearoa-New Zealand, it is estimated that about 571,000 tonnes of food waste are dumped in landfills every year. The flow-on effects are seen in soil and water contamination, and the release of greenhouse gases from landfills, contributing to climate change, she says.
The situation at Tirohia landfill, an expansion of which was recently rejected by commissioners, is proving the need for urgent action.
Currently, the kerbside collection in Thames-Coromandel is managed by Smart Environmental under a contract with TCDC. However, a new long-term contract will be developed during 2022, and a new Solid Waste Strategy will be developed in preparation for it.
"This is a window of opportunity to ensure effective waste minimisation measures are put into action," says group co-ordinator Shaked From.
"We're lucky to have this opportunity and we may not have another like this for another 10 years."
ReSource and the Thames-Coromandel Food Waste Campaign partners have gathered the most effective, already tested and proven, initiatives from around the country, he says.
In Whangamata, Helen McCabe has been finding and promoting solutions to food waste with local initiatives including collection drop-offs that are then delivered to others in the community with the capacity to compost the waste.
An audit carried out for TCDC in March 2021 discovered that food and garden waste make 60.9 per cent of the general rubbish – the majority (86 per cent) of which is food.
ReSource and others around the peninsula are amping up their response to getting this waste problem under control, but food waste is a multi-layered challenge.
A focus is to reduce the amount of food that is wasted. Achieving this not only saves households and businesses money but also means that all the water, land, animal, energy and people resources that have gone into producing that food are not wasted.
Initiatives such as Crop Swaps, Street Food-Pantries, and organised Free Food 'Shops' aim to prevent food from becoming waste in the first place, all of which have local examples.
Individual responsibility is another necessary approach. Each of us has a personal responsibility to minimise the amount of food waste we produce. We can buy less, reuse more, and make sure to pass on excess.
The Love Food Hate Waste website is full of tips on cutting down on food waste, including handy recipes to help people to get the most out of their food.
Well-known chefs including Annabel Langbein, Alyson Gofton and Dr Libby Weaver have donated their favourite recipes for using up odds and ends.
ReSource is working to see food scraps prevented from reaching the landfill, instead, becoming a useful resource through composting and other methods.
The group wants TCDC to:
1. Subsidise home-scale food waste solutions such as worm farms or compost bins - the cheapest, most effective and educational way to deal with food waste.
2. Implement a kerbside food waste collection and composting scheme, alongside existing rubbish and recycling schemes - ensuring that those who cannot compost at home have a solution, including food businesses.
3. Provide free support (eg. waste audit and a professional advisor) to businesses committed to reducing food waste - reducing large amounts at the source.
4. Develop and deliver an education campaign for households and businesses, including better planning, use of leftovers, sharing excess, composting, etc. - maximising previous initiatives and minimisation.
5. Adopt more ambitious waste minimisation goals and allocate funds in the next Long-Term Plan - ensuring sufficient resources are allocated to attain the above initiatives.
A kerbside food waste collection in Ruapehu has decreased the amount of food waste in the general rubbish from 50 per cent to less than 20 per cent within one year. In Taupō, many households have taken up home composting thanks to council subsidies, and numerous food businesses have engaged in their council's process to become labelled 'Resource Wise Business' with a free waste audit and advice from their council's waste minimisation advisors.
Similar initiatives have started in Tauranga, Hamilton, Auckland, Christchurch, Timaru and more.
- The group's petition is live on action station.