The Cycle of Food Waste in the Home and Industry and How to Ensure a More Sustainable Future

A head of lettuce takes 25 years to de-compost in landfill due to the lettuce not being exposed to oxygen and its inability to aerobic decomposition (Kye & Chai, 2017)

8% of greenhouse gases are caused by food waste. Green house gases cause the planet to heat ("Food Waste Facts", 2019)

the Australian Food and Grocery Council has a goal to reduce waste to landfill by 40 per cent by 2020 (Working together to reduce food waste in Australia, 2019)

Australians throw away 20% of the food they purchase ("Food Waste Fast Facts", 2019)

The average Australian household throws out $1,039 worth of waste a year which could pay for half a year's electricity bills ("Food Waste Fast Facts", 2019)

The food production/agricultural industry throws out 20-40% food before it reaches the consumer because the food might not look perfect. This is usually because of the consumer's exceptions of what food should look like ("Food Waste Fast Facts", 2019)

Where is food waste?

Is food waste more prominent in some areas more than others

Who creates food waste?

Do some demographics of people create more food waste than other?

Does gender/age/generation/education effect the amount of food waste created?

In the home

Do people in the country vs. city create less waste

Industry + food waste

waste in hospitality

Workplace/school + food waste

programs in schools to reduce waste

What is a closed loop cycle?

a closed-loop system is a process where every component (e.g. food) is reused within that same system for as long as possible, with the objectives to reuse, recycle, or biodegrade all materials involved so as to produce zero waste (Laura, 2016)

As an individual

Are financial savings a good incentive for people to reduce waste

As a country

The world

As a household

what creates the most waste

what is the easiest to reduce

Industry

Country

To create energy or fuel

A product

Can money be made from food waste

What is the food waste journey?

Where does it end?

Living things have basic needs, including food and water (ACSSU002) (ACARA, n.d.)

Objects are made of materials and have observable properties (ACSSU003) (ACARA, n.d.)

Science involves asking questions, describing changes in objects and events (ASCHE034) (ACARA, n.d.)

People use science in their daily lives, including when caring for the environment and living thing (ACSHE022, ACSHE035) (ACARA, n.d.)

What does the data and statistics say about the effect of food waste on the environment?

Are the systems already in place

Are the communities that we could learn from

How does food waste compare to other cultures?

Can we learn from previous generations and other cultures?

In the home

Use left overs, consumer less and in season, compost

In the classroom

School composting and gardening programs

In industry

How can we change consumer's expectation of food?

How can we create better systems or closed loop cycle

Food waste groups or organisations

Joost Bakker - Food Waste Activist - Zero Waste Restaurant in Melbourne (Walker, 2019)

Japan - Nation's food waste collected and made into probiotic feed for livestock ("Japan feeds animals recycled leftovers", 2019)

Tennessee US - Left over whey from commercial yogurt production converted into electricity - closed loop cycle (Crampton, 2019)

South Korea - Every citizen issue and electronic card that opens public bins for food waste. Each food waste deposit is weighed and at the end of every month household is charges for the amount of food waste (Broom, 2019)

Italy + France changing federal laws to reduce food waste (Abellan Matamoros, 2019)

New Orleans US - Edible School Yard Program - Primary School composting all food waste and growing food from the compost ("Edible Schoolyard New Orleans", 2019)