Govt funding five projects to help address food waste

The Government will fund two food waste and three compost projects this year through the Waste Minimisation Fund.

The Government is funding five projects to help address the growing problem of food waste, Environment Minister David Parker announced today.

“New Zealand households throw away nearly 300,000 tonnes of food every year, half of which could still be eaten. By supporting these initiatives, we’re taking steps to reduce this problem,” David Parker said.

The Government will fund two food waste and three compost projects this year through the Waste Minimisation Fund.

KiwiHarvest will receive $153,000 for its three new sites.0800 Hungry Ministries in Christchurch will receive $67,012 to replace 15-year-old delivery vans used in their food rescue operations.

Community Compost Ltd will receive $92,250 to expand current composting operations in Nelson.

CBEC (Community Business and Environment Centre) EcoSolutions that operates in Northland will receive $400,000 to install 12 community composting hubs and 1,200 home composting systems.

BioRich Limited in Napier will receive $850,000 to expand existing composting operations in Hawke’s Bay.

“We continue to support organic waste projects to meet emissions reductions targets. It is one of our investment signals for the current 2021 funding round and further applications are still under consideration,” David Parker said.

“To address food waste, we need to look into ways of redistributing or reusing edible surplus food, as well as ways to divert inedible food from landfills. These projects support both.

“By funding such projects we’re making strides towards a low waste, low emissions circular economy.”

Project details:

KiwiHarvest is a national food rescue organisation that works with food businesses, including supermarkets, wholesalers, producers, cafes, restaurants, and hotels, to rescue the food that they are not able to sell. This is redistributed to people in need.

“We are supporting KiwiHarvest’s Project Whakaraki, which has allowed KiwiHarvest to expand its food collection sites in Dunedin, Queenstown and the North Shore of Auckland,” David Parker said.

0800 Hungry Ministries have provided food rescue and support for Christchurch’s people in need for 20 years.

It has a large group of volunteers, but 0800’s vans were holding back operations. They were nearing the end of their life and are manual drive vehicles. So, many of the volunteers who were used to driving automatic vans were not able to drive them,

“0800’s services have been well received and in greater demand during crisis times like Covid-19, Christchurch’s recent flooding and the earthquakes,” David Parker said.

Community Compost Ltd, Nelson has built and operated an in-vessel commercial composting machine – bEartha to address the high demand in Nelson for commercial organic waste processing.

“This new funding will help them build another bEartha and expand their capacity by 156 tonnes to 350 tonnes a year,” David Parker said.

Community Business & Environment Centre (CBEC), Northland is a community enterprise operating a range of environmental programmes across Northland.

“With this grant, CBEC three-year project will set up 12 community compost collection hubs across Northland capable of processing up to 100 tonnes of waste from local businesses and organisations. 

“The project also tackles food waste from a household perspective, by providing eight-week community compost recycling programmes and composting systems to an expected 1,200 households by the end of the project,” David Parker said

Biorich, Hawke’s Bay will expand their existing composting facility to increase their annual capacity from 50,000 tonnes to 62,000 tonnes a year. The project will produce organic compost for use in Hawke’s Bay, Gisborne and Bay of Plenty.

“The BioRich project will address the issues of stockpiled lambs’ skins due to a collapse in the world pelt market, and the large volume of wood waste generated around Napier and Hastings that cannot be burnt because of air quality controls,” David Parker said.

(With Inputs from New Zealand Government Press Release)