Australians waste the equivalent of 312 kilos of food – most of it edible – per person. Meet the innovative minds figuring out how to dispose of the problem.
, Josh Brooks-Duncan and Josh Ball, mates and business students at Melbourne’s RMIT University, wandered through the monthly farmer’s market in seaside St Kilda. “We noticed that a lot of the produce didn’t look the same as the supermarket,” says Brooks-Duncan. “It was bent, misshapen, it looked … natural. We started researching and realised that there was a huge issue with food waste due to aesthetics.
The pair saw a chance to make a difference. “We learnt that food waste is a huge driver of climate change,” says Ball. “Throw in a business degree and you have an eye on opportunity.” Four months after that day, they launched Farmers Pick, a vegetable- and fruit-box service that puts “imperfect” produce on consumers’ doorsteps, initially in Melbourne and now also in Sydney.
Regular suppliers wouldn’t take it, but Farmers Pick did. “It doesn’t look good but if you cook with it, you’ll be blown away,” says Saini. He sells seconds at 30 to 50 per cent of the premium produce price. “We don’t grow to put in the bin. Having a home for our produce makes it all worthwhile.” “We had 15 tonnes of cream cheese due to go to export but it didn’t make the labelling standard,” explains CEO Katy Barfield. “Because it had Chinese writing on it, it wouldn’t be put into the Australian market and was on its way to landfill.” Swooping in superhero-style, Yume was able to find a local dips maker who bought it. “It’s a win all round.”
“We look to blame everyone else for the woes of society, but this one is really on our shoulders,” says Fight Food Waste’s Steven Lapidge. “There’s never a good reason to waste food but if you are going to do it, it’s better to do it early on – such as on the farm – so you don’t put all the additional resources into it.”