Food Waste – Clean Up Australia Blog Piece

1/3 of all food produced goes to waste.

The Gift of Bread – don’t let religious beliefs become part of the article.
Kevin Ford, Community Engagement Team Leader

 Where do you get the bread from?

We receive fresh unsold bread from a range of large commercial bakeries, and also
independent local bakeries.
Our major suppliers include Baker’s Delight, Shepherds Artisan Bakehouse, Luxe Bakery,
Baalbek Bakery, Brooklyn Boy Bagels, Coles and Woolworths.

 Who does the bread go to?

Fresh bread is collected directly from bakeries and taken to our community workshop at
Tempe, or to our six outreach centres.
The bread is sliced and, together with bread rolls, it is sealed in bread bags to maintain
freshness and hygiene.
Loaves and rolls are delivered to various clients, such as soup kitchens, refuges, schools,
boarding houses and individuals. We have over 200 clients.
Our clients include the Exodus Foundation, St Vincent de Paul Night Patrol, Wesley Mission,
Youth Off The Streets and Good Start Breakfast Club, as well as many families who find it
hard to make ends meet.
Other unsold bread is re-baked in our commercial oven to produce longlife crispbread. It is
machine-sealed into individual Snack Bags containing two slices. This product is handy for
those who cannot manage a whole loaf, such as the homeless.
We are currently filling a huge order for Snack Bags to go to Lebanon to assist in feeding
those affected by the Beirut explosion.
We are also planning to use unsold bread as the base ingredient for Christmas puddings,
within a “Buy One, Gift One” program to provide a Christmas treat for the needy.

 Is it just bread? Why is bread important/accessible?

Bread is the stuff of life and an important part of the diet in most cultures. We are fortunate
that our suppliers provide a variety of bread such as white, sourdough, grain, wholemeal,
ciabatta, rye, Lebanese and challah which appeal to many different people.
Bread is relatively cheap to make, and many bakeries prefer to keep their shelves stocked
until the close of business. This means that there is a significant quantity of unsold bread at
the end of the day. Without our intervention, that bread would go to landfill.
Each week, Coles and SecondBite provide us with a variety of other goods, such as milk,
eggs, fruit and vegetables nearing the end of its shelf life. These products are also provided
to the needy through our distribution network.
7-Eleven recently gifted us a commercial refrigeration unit to keep these products safe and
fresh prior to delivery.

 What are the reactions usually like when people receive the bread?
Reactions to a gift of bread can vary from effusive thanks to a simple smile or a nod. Our
clients, both corporate and individual, are generally under financial pressure. Receiving a
regular supply of fresh bread makes life a little easier, and also contributes to a healthy diet.
 As well as receiving food, does the exchange of bread create a community and friendship
between volunteer and receiver? What does this friendship usually look like?
Our mission is to build community, rather than just feed the needy. All of our drivers and
delivery staff are encouraged to share a “moment of grace” with our clients, to ask about their
wellbeing and ensure that our delivery is meeting their needs.
Many of our clients offer to have a cup of coffee with our driver, or provide them with a cool
drink. Our clients look forward to their bread delivery, and form a bond with our drivers.

 How much bread is given out every week?

Our standard unit is a “bag of bread”, containing either one loaf or six bread rolls.
We deliver over 7,000 bags of bread each week, which is equivalent to about 5  tonnes of
bread saved from landfill each week.

 The bread is delivered by volunteers, how do you think helping others makes them feel?
Our volunteers are as diverse as the society in which they live. They range in age from late
teens to seventies, and represent a wide range of cultures and religions.
Each volunteer has their own reason for volunteering, such as:
 Giving back to the community
 Combatting food waste
 Assisting the homeless and the needy
 Maintaining social contact and building friendships
 Helping in a collegial environment
 Following the spirit of their religion

 Some rescued bread can’t go to people and instead is given to farmers, what is it used for
there?
Any bread which is damaged or stale is stored onsite .It is collected regularly by farmers to
feed their cattle, or sometimes horses, goats or pigs.
The farmers comment that the bread is nutritious, and provides similar benefits to grain-fed
animals.
Once we collect unsold bread from a bakery, it is never wasted.

 During COVID-19 restrictions, has the process of giving bread been harder than
ever? However, do you also think that people have needed the help more than ever?
COVID-19 created new challenges for Gift of Bread. Many of our volunteers are senior
citizens, some with health issues. In order to protect them, and in response to the pandemic,
we made the sad decision to close all of our centres for several months.
Of course, “hunger never takes a holiday”, so we were very fortunate that some of our
suppliers provided their own staff to slice and package their unsold bread each day.
Some of our more robust drivers formed a Crisis Relief COVID-19 Response Team, collecting
the prepared bread from the bakeries and delivering it to the most needy of our clients.
In this way, we were able to continue the support and welfare of our valued clients.
We also received additional requests for support from families where the “breadwinner” had
been stood down because of COVID-19.

 Background
Gift of Bread was founded in 2007 by Marcel De Maris, who felt compelled to deliver unsold
bread within his community. It has since grown to be a large food rescue charity in Sydney.

Stats of wastage here:

in Australia, over five million tonnes of food ends up as landfill, enough to fill 9,000
Olympic sized swimming pools every single year.

Bring Me Home
“One of the best apps in 2019” - Herald Sun App Review
“App that saves money and the environment” - review from Sydney Morning Herald

 
 What usually happens to food when it goes to waste, and what are the
environmental implications?
When food goes to landfill, tonnes and tonnes of it goes through a composting process
and releases methane gas. In the app methane gas measured to display positive impact.

 What does Bring Me Home do for the customers?

It is a win/win you get the food for up to 70% off and also help the environment. Double
benefit financial and environmental victory, the app tracks how much money is saved and
the positive environmental impact is displayed in amount of methane gas prevented
entering the atmosphere like it would in landfill. It also acts as a quick and easy educational
tool; seeing methane reduced makes the person think about how much every action
impacts the environment, like the water used to grow the food, gases from driving the
truck.

 Core idea behind bring me home and bring me home boxes

The original part of Bring Me Home is the app, which aims to reduce food waste in retail.
If there is left over food after main rush hour a restaurant or café can list that on the app to
prevent food waste and also maximise their sales.

Since covid-19 we noticed food waste was happening up the supply chain by food
producers now that cafes and restaurants closed so we set up a marketplace so the
producers got a consumer base to sell their produce too, where customers purchase a
subscription to get a Bring Me Home Box which contains produce, reducing food wastage
and giving the producers business.

 Is the food still fresh and safe to eat?

Yes, the food is listed right after peak period it is always during business hours. It’s
perfectly safe because it’s still within opening hours.

For shop owners

For shop owners food waste is usually an inevitability, so Bring Me Home aims to
change how they think about it, you can operate at zero waste, or minimal waste, it
reduces how much they impact the environment and how much financial impact is
made. Reducing waste is also incentivised saving them money. It is also a good
marketing tool for them to use because Bring Me Home can get new customers
onboard and gives them another channel to gain business.
OZ HARVEST

Oz Harvest model has been replicated in the UK, New Zealand, Thailand and South Africa
Oz Harvest rescues over 180 tonnes of food each week from over 3,500 food
donors 

 How does a business become a food donor? Why is it beneficial to them?

You have to be a registered business, but if you are one with quality surplus food you
go on our website and fill in a form and there are FAQs there too. Generally, that goes
 to our logistics team and they will be in touch to let a business know. The benefit is
that it doesn’t cost them anything and it saves them the cost of disposing of it, and
they’re upholding their commitment o sustainability and keeping food out of land fill,
it’s a win/win situation.
 It’s, given to those who need it most, what relationships are made between those
working for OZ Harvest and those receiving food?
We deliver the food to registered charities, we support around 1600 across the country, we
also have 2 markets in Sydney where we give food out directly to those in need. It is a take
what you need give what you have philosophy. Basically, that is stocked full of fresh produce
so that is available directly to anyone who needs it. If you’re an individual who needs food,
there is a website called askIzzy they can direct you to nearby food charities.
 What sort of education do Oz Harvest give and how do they deliver it?
Oz Harvest has 3 education programs that we run, the first one is called NEST – nutrition,
education and skills training, which happened when we gave charities and they didn’t
know what to do with the food we gave them, its giving hands on advice for food
preparation and cooking.
We have Nourish which takes kids from at risks backgrounds between 16-24 and train
them in a certificate of hospitality and they can join us for 18 weeks to learn about
nutrition and hospitality and run it in conjunction with education providers. WE help
them get pathways to employment and work experience.
FEAST – a curriculum aligned program for primary school kids, teaching them how to
waste less, eat healthy food and become change makers in their local communities, kids
love it, it involves cooking

 Sustainability and food waste is a really large issue, but it’s one every person can
make a difference in, how does Oz Harvest aim to engage and encourage the
community?
In Australia we waste over 7.3 million tons and a 3rd of that is from homes, everyone
is part of the solution. We offer practical tips and tricks on our website; we like to say
it’s about getting into good habits. Look what is in your fridge or pantry before you
go cooking, store it correctly, only buy what you need. Use all the wilting vegetables,
eat up leftovers.

Fiona Nearn
National Media and Communications Manager