Meal planning key to reducing food waste

A new study by researchers from RMIT University’s Centre for Design and Society has found planning meals is crucial to cutting household food waste, regardless of socioeconomic status.

Householders are significant contributors to food waste - throwing out an estimated 40% of the food they buy. That’s the equivalent of two in every five bags of groceries - about 2.7 million tonnes of food - going straight into household bins each year.

Food waste is estimated to comprise about 50% of household waste in council garbage bins, with fresh fruit, vegetables, pre-prepared meals, bread and cereals the most common items thrown out each week.

The study, which looked at how and why household food waste is generated, was commissioned by Banyule City Council and The Melbourne Metropolitan Waste Management Group. The ‘Districts, Lifestyles and Avoiding Food Waste’ study mapped the week-long cycle of household food waste in 24 households across Melbourne suburbs Ivanhoe, Greensborough and Heidelberg West.

By looking at how households bought, stored, prepared and disposed of food, lead researcher Associate Professor Karli Verghese and her team found poor planning was the main reason food was thrown into household bins.

“Understanding food waste is more about shifting the everyday practices of buying, cooking and storing foods that generate waste and less about what is being put in the bin,” Associate Professor Verghese said.

Buying more food than needed, poor storage, spoiled food, expired use-by dates and forgotten leftovers were other reasons food was binned.

Banyule Mayor Councillor Craig Langdon said the findings would help the council tailor education programs to reduce food waste across Banyule’s 51,500 households.

“One of the surprising aspects of the study was the little difference between the three suburbs, which indicates food waste is a universal problem,” he said.

“By implementing education programs that help households reduce food waste, it’s a win-win for residents and council with not only financial savings but a better environmental outcome with less rubbish going to landfill.”