National Waste Reporting 2013
FACTSHEET – FOOD WASTE
The quantity of food waste sent to landfill is greater than for any other material category for
both the MSW and C&I waste streams1. In 2010–11, the amount of food waste sent to landfill
as a proportion of total reported waste for municipal solid waste (MSW) was 30 per cent for
New South Wales and 46 per cent for Victoria, and 15 per cent for the commercial and
industrial (C&I) sector for both New South Wales and Victoria2.
The majority of the total food waste generated is also sent to landfill. For example, in Victoria
over 80 per cent of the total food waste went to landfill (see Table 1).
Table 1 Waste treatment as a percentage of the total food waste generation in NSW and
Victoria in 2010–11.
Waste treatment
New South Wales
Victoria
Disposal to landfill
67%
82%
Recycling
13%
2%
Energy recovery
20%
16%
Source: Waste generation and resource recovery in Australia.
Food may become waste at different points along the supply chain including at the production,
transportation, processing, distribution, purchase and post consumption stages. Although food
waste has a low recovery rate at present there are multiple benefits to increased waste
avoidance and recovery including:

increased food security by more effective food management.

reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Emissions may be avoided in production,
transportation and storage of food that then becomes waste. Food waste is also one of
the main sources of methane generation in landfill. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas
with a global warming potential significantly greater than carbon dioxide. The net impact
of recycling food waste in the C&I sector is the avoidance of 0.25 tonnes carbon dioxide
equivalent per tonne of food waste3.

other environmental benefits such as retention of nutrients by converting waste into
compost and soil amendment products and energy recovery from waste.

social benefits, including addressing social disadvantage by providing food to people in
need; and enabling charities to spend less of their budget on food and more on other
goods and services.

economic benefits, including reduced costs for households, businesses and other
enterprises (e.g. reduced purchase of food that becomes waste, labour cost in
preparing food that goes to waste, avoiding landfill levies in disposal), market
development, expansion and job creation.
1
These percentages are derived from NSW and Victoria figures for 2010–2011 in Waste generation and resource recovery in
Australia. These are the two jurisdictions that report against waste streams.
2
NSW and Victoria are the only two jurisdictions that report specifically against food waste.
3
A study into C&I commercial and industrial (C&I) waste and recycling in Australia by industry division
1
Barriers and opportunities to reduce waste and improve resource recovery
Municipal solid waste stream
One of the biggest opportunities is in the further recovery of food from the MSW waste stream.
An increasing number of councils are considering, trialling or implementing food organics
recycling. Mixed solid waste, including organic material, may also be processed by alternative
waste treatment infrastructure, however the infrastructure availability and capacity currently
may limit this option.
There may be local drivers that facilitate the recovery of food waste. For example, due to high
landfill and waste disposal costs there has been a significant move in the Sydney metropolitan
area to kerbside collection and processing of food and garden organics. Nationally, as at
May 2012, 6.8 per cent of local councils offered a kerbside recycling service for food, which
represents a total of 10.3 per cent of the population with access to this service4.
Commercial and industrial waste stream
The most effective recovery of food waste occurs when it is separated at the source from the
rest of the waste stream. Some sources of food waste, particularly unpackaged, fresh produce
and manufacturing wastes, can be separated relatively easily.
Barriers to separation of food waste include:

ongoing implementation costs e.g. staff training and labour, even if this may only be a
perception.

collection services may not be readily accessible, particularly for small to medium sized
businesses.

many organics recovery systems do not tolerate any contamination and are often
focused on food preparation waste. Post-consumer waste may be contaminated with
disposable items such as plastic straws, sauce sachets or contain meat bones or other
items not accepted by collection services.
Food waste has a large economic cost and is a dominant input cost for the C&I sector. The
estimated input cost for purchasing food organics that are then disposed of is $8.2 billion for
waste to landfill and $2.3 billion for waste that is recycled5. While there will be unavoidable
food waste, even small percentage improvements in reducing unnecessary food wastage has
financial benefits and there will be benefits to business in understanding the full cost of waste,
including input costs.
A 2013 study into C&I waste and recycling by industry division identified two sub-divisions for
priority action: the retail trade (food retail) and the accommodation and food services (food
servicing) sectors. These sectors generate large amounts of waste in total, generate a high
proportion of waste per employee i.e. have a high waste ‘intensity’, and have high levels of
recoverable material, including food waste, sent to landfill.
4
Recycling Near You 2012. Recycling service accessibility, unpublished.
Based on 2010-2011 figures in A study into C&I commercial and industrial (C&I) waste and recycling in Australia by
industry division
5
2
In the food retail sector, 37 per cent of the total waste sent to landfill is specifically attributed to
food waste. A further ‘unknown’ category of 50 per cent of the total waste generation is also
likely to include food waste6. Food retailing has a high proportion of small to medium
businesses which increases the challenge of achieving good recycling rates in this sector.
These enterprises may not be able to readily access recycling services as they may not
generate a viable amount of waste for collection. There are some substantial gains being
made in waste avoidance in the supermarket sector through the heavy discounting of
perishables as they approach the ‘use by date’ expiry and systems for stock control.
Small food retailers appear to have a wide range of food waste and the degree to which their
produce is perishable will influence the amount of food waste generated. Guidance material for
food retail and food and beverage services businesses to develop and implement strategies
for separating food waste from their general waste stream for either on-site or off-site
treatment may assist with recovery rates.
Unsold product is significant in retail trade. It is likely that there could be increased avoidance
of waste through:

more refined ordering of stock to suit requirements

finding alternative mechanisms for disposing of unused stock (e.g. food rescue
charities)

supplier take-back of unsold stock.
There is significant diversity in the amount of C&I waste generated by cafes, restaurants,
takeaway outlets and caterers. Cafes generally undertake less cooking and food preparation
on site than other outlets and can manage inventories better as a result. Restaurants have
both high food preparation waste and post-consumer waste and over half of the general waste
stream from restaurants may be food. Take-away outlets may have a high proportion of waste
from unsold product. Corporate catering operates on a model that regularly generates wastage
of 25-50 per cent due to client expectation of excess. Suitable strategies for waste avoidance
and recovery in this sector include ongoing staff training (particularly due to high staff
turnover), improved inventory control, reduction of unsold product waste and increased
recovery, including by food rescue and recycling.
Common drivers for businesses in establishing food waste collection systems include:

health and safety considerations as food waste is heavy, odorous and produces
leachate that may leak.

saving space and/or reduced collection frequency for other wastes. Food waste is
stored separately which enables other general waste to be collected less frequently.

business positioning as a leader in good environmental practices.
Box 1 Food recovery options
Food recovery options include:
1. redistribution of edible food including through ‘food rescue’ organisations which
distribute food for people in need.
2. collection for off-site organics recovery.
3. on-site composting, worm farming, etc.
4. on-site technologies such as dehydration sterilisation which significantly reduces
the volume of material and produces a sterile product, or vacuum pipes which
suction waste directly into a tanker.
6
A study into C&I commercial and industrial (C&I) waste and recycling in Australia by industry division
3
A 2013 study into the C&I sector found that few businesses implemented food waste collection
services in order to save money, although the fact that it often resulted in reduced waste
charges assisted with smooth implementation. The study also noted that the implementation of
food waste collection systems may often be driven by clients rather than being sold as a
service by waste collection companies7. Greater supply of food waste collection services and
increased demand would contribute to improved recovery through this mechanism.
Smaller businesses may not generate sufficient consistent volumes of food waste to make
collection economically viable for waste collection companies. However, there may be
opportunities for these businesses to access local government recycling facilities, to
coordinate with other local businesses to aggregate their food waste to a viable volume for
collection services or to have a greater take up of food rescue services.
Food rescue is the recovery of edible food products that are redistributed to people in need.
This type of resource recovery has seen substantial growth in recent years through the work of
organisations such as Fareshare, Foodbank, OzHarvest and Second Bite (see case studies
Foodbank, OzHarvest and SecondBite for further details).
In 2012–13, a total of 32 372 tonnes of food were recovered and redistributed by four
organisations (Table 2). Despite this effort, food rescue currently only diverts a small
proportion of food waste from manufacturing and an even smaller amount from retail
businesses. There is the potential for increased food rescue with raised awareness about this
mechanism and possibly greater use of supply chain collation from individual outlets.
Table 2 Food recovered by food rescue charities in 2012–138.
Organisation
Food
recovered
(tonnes)
Charities/other organisations assisted
Fareshare
610
360
Foodbank
25,662
Over 2,500
OzHarvest
1900
510
SecondBite
4200
Nearly 1000 community food programs
Total
32,372
n/a
Recovery for recycled organic products
The annual Recycled Organics Unit (ROU) surveys of the organics processing and recycling
industry present information on the amounts of organic material received for processing
including food waste (see Table 3). However, direct comparisons between years are not
possible due to variation in survey participation9 and reporting.
7
A study into C&I commercial and industrial (C&I) waste and recycling in Australia by industry division
Figures supplied by Fareshare, Foodbank, OzHarvest and SecondBite.
9
Tasmania and the Northern Territory were not included in the survey over this period. In the 2006–7 survey, data for the ACT
and Victoria was not available for that financial year and so 2005–6 data was used instead. In 2007–8, Victoria and the ACT did
not participate, with the ACT also not participating in the 2009–10, 2010–11 or 2011–12 surveys.
8
4
Table 3 Organic material reported to be received for processing by financial year in kilotonnes
(kt)10 11.
2005-06
2006-07
2007-08
2008-09
2009-10
2010-11
2011-12
Food organics
(food waste) (kt)
82
79
124
136
212
151
164
Biowaste
(mixed garden
and food) (kt)
10
16
14
32
50
55
37
Energy from waste recovery
In 2010–11, the equivalent of 0.8 million tonnes of food waste in landfill in Australia were
recovered via biogas energy recovery12. Increased gas capture rates at landfills would
contribute to improved recovery rates.
For more information on food waste see:

A study into C&I commercial and industrial (C&I) waste and recycling in
Australia by industry division

Commercial and industrial waste profile factsheet

Fareshare http://fareshare.net.au/

Food and garden organics best practice collection manual

FoodBank www.foodbank.org.au

Interactive mapping tool

National food waste assessment

National organics waste profile factsheet

Organics recycling in Australia - Industry statistics 2012

Organic recycling in Australia - Industry statistics 2011

Organic recycling in Australia - Industry statistics 2006-2010

OzHarvest http://www.ozharvest.org/

Planet Ark’s website to find out what councils offer food waste collection and to locate drop
off facilities http://recyclingnearyou.com.au/

Reap http://www.reap.org.au/

Recycled Organics Unit http://www.recycledorganics.com/publications/#survey

Jurisdictional waste profile factsheets, including the NSW Love Food Hate Waste case
study

SecondBite www.secondbite.org

Think Eat Save (United Nations Environment Programme) http://www.thinkeatsave.org/
10
Recycled Organics Unit (ROU) for the DoE, Organic recycling in Australia: industry statistics (2011 and 2012)
Recycled Organics Unit 2006-2010. Organics Recycling in Australia: Industry Statistics 2006-2010 available at
http://www.recycledorganics.com/publications/#survey
12
Blue Environment and Randell Environmental Consulting. Waste generation and resource recovery in Australia (2013)
11
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