Nourished for Nil aims to end food waste

The team at Nourished for Nil with fresh produce deemed not good enough to sell, but definitely good enough to eat. Photo/Supplied

Food waste constitutes a major problem in New Zealand, but non-profit organisation Nourished for Nil hopes to change that.

Each year, New Zealanders waste a combined total of $1.8 billion of food, and in Hawke's Bay, 48 per cent of a person's rubbish is made up of food waste on average.

Nourished for Nil is running its annual fundraiser, A Rescued Plate, which will be held at Hastings City Art Gallery tomorrow, and co-founder Christina McBeth says it aims to raise both awareness of the programme, and money.

"We're holding it because we think it's a unique opportunity to showcase what it is we do when we food rescue.

"What we are getting is really delicious, perfectly good, perfectly edible, safe food.

"With the clever touch of a chef, it can be turned into something amazing."

Nourished for Nil saved 79 tonnes of food from going to landfill last year, which was its first year running.

"This year we are blowing that out of the stratosphere.

"We're probably rescuing between four and five tonnes a week."

Be it cafe leftovers, or apples from orchards, Nourished for Nil will take it and redistribute it to the community.

"If it's already-prepared food, so it was obviously something that was made it a commercial kitchen, we are happy to take that on the day that it was made, and we pass it on, on the day.

"Pack houses, orchards, supermarkets are a big source of food for us now."

"We get food from catering, we get fruits from people's gardens, pretty much anything you can imagine, we are happy to take as long as it's in good condition."

As well as their upcoming fundraiser, Nourished for Nil is celebrating two new partnerships, one with Westpac, and one with national food rescue organisation Kiwi Harvest.

"This year, we're proud to announce that Westpac NZ will be our first corporate sponsor and we'd also like to thank our generous existing sponsors and donors for their support and belief in us."

Westpac New Zealand's Central North Island regional manager, Adrian van Dyk, said they wanted to help grow a better New Zealand by helping businesses and local communities grow.

"The volunteers and supporters of Nourished for Nil are providing a much-needed service to the local community and we want to do our bit to help as well."

Nourished for Nil has also finalised a collaboration with Kiwi Harvest.

"Thanks to that we now have a refrigerated truck, among other prospects, which means we can now also collect chilled foods," McBeth said.

Tickets to A Rescued Plate are $50 and can be bought on A Rescued Plate's Facebook page.

Clearview Estate Winery is sponsoring the event and its chef, Pete Hallgarth , will be cooking food made exclusively from donated ingredients.

Nourished for Nil is open between 4.30pm and 5.30pm weekdays, as well opening for pensioners between 10am and 11am on Thursdays.