Campaign to Reduce Consumer Food Waste

A new campaign from Eat Well Tasmania will tackle food waste at its largest source—consumers—to help Tasmanians save money, time and food.

The campaign targets consumers who in fact waste more food than grocery stores and restaurants combined.

The initiative hopes to encourage Tasmanians to reduce the amount of food they waste in their homes, and to enjoy more  seasonal local produce every day. With nearly all food waste ending up in landfill, where it decomposes and releases methane, a form of climate pollution that is up to 86 times more potent than carbon dioxide, collaborative action to cut food loss and waste is essential.

“Ensuring we meet Australia’s commitment to half food waste by 2030 will require a massive shift in the way we consumer, buy and cook our food,” said Carl Saunder, State Manager of Eat Well Tasmania.

“Wasting food wastes everything—water, fuel, labour, money and time. Producers put an incredible amount of passion into growing what is some of the best food in the country—Tasmanian food belongs on our plates, not the bin.

“The Too Good To Wastecampaign not only highlights the amount of food wasted in our state, but also the effort and resources it takes to bring food into Tasmanians homes,“ said Saunder.

Eat Well Tasmania has partnered with a team of food waste champions from across the food sector to create the campaign. Guided by some of Tasmania’s finest chefs and passionate producers’, audiences will learn about where their food comes from, and why Tasmanian food is too good to waste.

The campaign will also provide useful  cooking tips to help audiences brush-up on their cooking skills and learn how to eat well at home.

“While we need to learn new cooking skills to save food from becoming waste, saving food starts with our mindset,” explained Saunder. “It’s about crafting dishes to use ingredients on hand, planning our meals and loving our leftovers.”

“We all have a role to play in reducing food waste and we can tackle this one meal at a time. Yes, the problem of waste is complex but there are simple solutions and if we all make small changes to how we store, prepare and eat our food we can reduce our waste.”

All campaign assets direct audiences to eatwelltas.org.au, where they can learn more about Tasmanian food and find resources on how to reduce food waste at home. This includes access to a short documentary produced for the campaign by Eat Well Tasmania that chronicles the lives of several Tasmanian chefs and producers—following the journey local food makes from paddock to plate and how ensure it never ends up in the bin.

People can visit eatwelltasmania.org.au to learn more about Too Good To Waste.