Masterton’s WaiWaste Food Rescue take food from landfill and distribute it to hungry whānau.
Masterton’s WaiWaste Food Rescue redistribute food destined for landfill.
Food waste items include fruit nearing the end of their use-by dates, food with damaged packaging, or cosmetic faults on the food itself.
Food waste is endemic in New Zealand with the Kantar New Zealand Food Waste Survey 2022 showing $3.1 billion worth of edible food is ‘wasted’ each year in New Zealand.
Wairarapa’s WaiWaste coordinator Geoff Roberts said the team collects food waste from local supermarkets, producers and cafes to stop it going to landfill.
The staff handle several hundred kilos of food each day before distributing boxes out to community groups, serving people who need and cannot afford food.
“It’s food that’s good enough to eat, but not good enough to sell,” Roberts said.
Now entering a “post-Covid phase”, Roberts noted changing trends in WaiWaste’s demand.
“We’ve got quite a high amount of food-need that was directly related to Covid, and there was a lot of extra supply coming through the Food Network and through donations because people recognised that need, and now that supply is dropping back down.
“The expectation is that we go back to something resembling normal, pre-Covid.
“The problem is that the cost of food during that time, particularly fresh fruit and vegetables, has gone up substantially. So people are not in a position to go back to where they were in terms of being able to afford food.”
Operations co-ordinator Laura Garland and volunteers help collect produce from around the region.
WaiWaste’s largest provider of rescued food is Masterton Countdown. They also get high quality meat and cheeses from Moore Wilsons, greens from New World, and bread and sandwiches from local cafes and bakeries.
Once all the food is at WaiWaste’s hub on Hope St in Masterton, Garland and volunteers sift through food items for dispatch.
“Nothing is wasted. All that food waste goes to compost, chickens and ducks,” Garland said.
“[We] sort the new lot of fruit and veg and then we start weighing it out and reloading the van to deliver to the foodbank and resource centre and the Community Kitchen.”
Masterton foodbank volunteer Krystal Logan said the kai goes to those who need it.
“People that work, they’ve got jobs and they just haven’t got any buffer,” Logan said.
“So the car breaks down, the washing machine breaks down or the electricity bill goes up … they just haven’t got money for a buffer.”
Logan said their boxes are better than they’ve ever been.
“We used to get a couple of thousand dollars and food and just donations from the street. Over Covid we got $20,000 just from the community donating that year.
“And we’ve got regulars still that are paying every month out of their income, which is $1000 or a couple of hundred every month in automatic payments. So the community is much more aware of the foodbank.”
Other local charities also rely heavily on WaiWaste’s efforts. Kingdom Kai’s Jah Matthews said 90 per cent of the charity’s food comes from WaiWaste.
“We have a lot of solo mums reach out for help, they really struggle a lot … having to do activities with the kids and that,” Matthews said.
“And the homeless people fluctuate, they go up and down, and I’m expecting a whole lot more after people in emergency housing, when they close that down.”
Rangitāne youth support worker Benjamin Molesi described giving food to those who don’t expect it.
“When you take the food to these people, it’s amazing just to see their faces and just the greatness of us being able to do that.
Molesi urged local businesses and families that are not struggling financially to provide support to organisations like WaiWaste.
“I know to the businesses it’s not that much, but to these people, it’s life changing.
“Even if they’re able to save $20 to put $20 towards their kids, or especially at the beginning of the year, a lot of parents at this time are buying uniforms, pens and pencils and stationery. This is the time of the year where it’s needed the most because a lot of families out there are struggling.”
WaiWaste relies on local grants, government support, donations from supermarkets, sponsorships, and an infrastructure grant from the Ministry of Social Development to set it up as a food hub during the pandemic.
