Who we are

Food waste is a global issue with losses valued at $1.6 trillion p.a. that cause greenhouse gas emissions that rival road transport. In Australian we waste 7.6 million tonnes of food each year, enough to fill the Melbourne Cricket Ground 10 times, with economic losses estimated at near $37 billion each year.

Fight Food Waste Ltd is a registered charity that was established in 2018 and has a vision of An Australia without food waste. The company incorporates two divisions- the Fight Food Waste Cooperative Research Centre (FFW CRC) and Stop Food Waste Australia (SFWA). The 2018-funded FFW CRC is an $120 million, 10 year organisation funded through the Australian Government’s Cooperative Research Centre Program, industry partners, state governments and tertiary institutions.

Stop Food Waste Australia commenced in January 2021 as the National Food Waste Governance Entity that is the lead agency in delivering the National Food Waste Strategy. It will receive $4 million in seed funding between January 2021 and June 2024 from the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment.

“A thriving, efficient and sustainable food industry is central to Australia’s economy, regional job security and prosperity, yet one third of all the food we produce goes to waste.”

Our participants

The Fight Food Waste Cooperative Research Centre brings together 50 industry and 10 research partners, with combined resources of $64 million cash and $57 million in-kind contributions. The FFW CRC receives core funding from the Australian Government Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources CRC Program and is currently funded until 2028.

Stop Food Waste Australia is a powerful partnership of 20 organisations who operate along the farm-to-fork food supply chain that are committed to reducing Australia’s food waste by half by 2030. It currently receives seed funding from the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment.

Outcomes

Through its two divisions Fight Food Waste Ltd will deliver:

• New sources of revenue and market growth for food companies.
• Less waste of resources through the supply chain from grower through to consumer.
• More donated food to feed hungry Australians.
• Less food waste ending up in landfill.

Fight Food Waste CRC research programs

Program 1 – REDUCE: Reducing supply chain losses
Delivery of supply chain analysis tools, framework for optimal packaging design, innovative supply chain and packaging solutions, and options to optimise food rescue.

Program 2 – TRANSFORM: Transforming waste resources
Identify and prioritise commercially valuable products from waste streams, new technologies for waste transformation, decision support tools, and regulatory options to promote investment in waste transformation.

Program 3 – ENGAGE: Education and behavioural change
Educating future industry professionals, industry dissemination and skills training, and household and business behaviour change.

Stop Food Waste Australia programs

Activity 1 – Implement the Voluntary Agreement: The Australian Food Pact

A voluntary agreement brings together organisations in pre-competitive collaboration to make our food system more sustainable, resilient, and circular.

Activity 2 – Develop new and implement the existing Sector Action Plans

Sector Action Plans provide a laser-like focus on major food waste ‘hotspots’ in our food system. Hotspots are areas where many factors combine to create circumstances where high amounts of food are wasted and/ or high environmental impact or high value foods are wasted.

Activity 3 – Communicate, Engage and Partner for Impact

We’re combining our efforts across the SFWA partnership to focus on delivering impact. Our strategy is based on two principles of behaviour change:

• increasing the motivation to reduce food waste, and
• making it easier to reduce food waste.

Activity 4 – Measure, Evaluate and Report our Progress

Following the principles of Target, Measure, Act, we will monitor and report our collective impact. We will gather data from our partners and businesses to monitor progress and use this to focus on driving further improvements and best practice across the sector.