Woolworths has announced a partnership with food rescue organisation OzHarvest to help stop food being sent to landfill.
The national supermarket chain says that it is committed to eliminating food waste being sent to landfill by 2020, a pledge which the OzHarvest agreement will support.
Woolworths had previously committed in 2007 to a zero food waste to landfill target by 2015. Its efforts have been commendable in the last eight years, as its most recent corporate social responsibility report shows it diverted 60,000 of food waste from landfill in that period – an increase of by 815 per cent.
With the new agreement, OzHarvest becomes the principal partner for Woolworths to collect and distribute edible food to people who are in need across Australia.
“Our customers want to see us reducing our food waste. We’ll do that right through the supply chain from selling our Odd Bunch imperfect fruit and vegetables to donating food through OzHarvest, our other food rescue partners, and other initiatives like animal food and commercial composting,” Brad Banducci, Managing Director of Woolworths Food Co, said.
“Our target remains ambitious but with great partners it is achievable.”
Among its measures to achieve “zero food waste to landfill”, Woolworths will engage its network of farmers, producers, manufacturers, employees and customers to avoid food wastage. It will also support OzHarvest’s educational campaigns on food waste reduction, such as Think.Eat.Save, an initiative partnered with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
The partnership forms part of a larger commitment by Woolworths to eliminate food waste, which includes seeing edible food waste distributed by a number of organisations like OzHarvest, and other waste used for animal feed, commercial compost and power generation.
OzHarvest’s CEO and Founder Ronni Kahn said she was thrilled at the Zero Food Waste by 2020 pledge from Woolworths, building on their existing decade‐long partnership.
“This commitment from Woolworths is a huge advance in our collective fight against food waste,” added Mrs Kahn. “This partnership will allow OzHarvest to divert even more surplus food from landfill and further help Australians in need, addressing the broader issues of food waste, sustainability and food security.”