Regular readers will know how much I hate wasting things. I may be extravagant with purchasing but I am also the polar opposite when it comes to wastage. Mr NQN can attest to that. When I recently made 6 litres of blue jelly in the pursuit of a jelly cake, he was left to ingest all of the practice runs. Even though I knew it was easy to make and inexpensive, I still fed him every last drop.
Two years ago I did a story on Freeganism which was a real eye opener for me when it came to seeing how much waste occurs on a daily basis. It was a story I was very proud of, not just because it was nominated for awards but because it was a revelation to me and I think that my darling readers also found it interesting. And when the lovely Anna went on a food rescue day with OzHarvest which is a much needed brilliant service that collects food from companies and restaurants and corporates that also hate waste, I knew that I wanted to do the same thing here in Sydney.
What would it be like? Who would be donating food? And who wouldn’t be donating food? Read on Dear Reader, read on!
I arrive at the OzHarvest offices this bright Thursday morning. I’m to be a volunteer and riding along with Andrew who has been working at OzHarvest for two months now. The office staff are paid as are drivers and they also have a number of volunteers that accompany the drivers. The vans run 6 days a week, sometimes even on a Sunday and travel as far as Wollongong and Brookvale. They have ambassadors like musician Ben Lee, actor Toni Collette, Neil Perry, Steve Manfredi, Maeve O’Meara and Bill Granger.
Started in 2004 by Ronni Khan a South African woman who for twenty years, had a successful event planning company here in Australia and saw first hand how much food was wasted on a daily basis. When she could, she would take the excess food to charities but this wasn’t always feasible. She then heard about Angel Harvest, the American version of OzHarvest and flew over to find out more about food rescue and then implemented it here. It is a Not For Profit organisation backed by funding from the Macquarie Group Foundation and Goodman international who provided the vans and office space, they deliver 5,000 meals a day with a single a meal costing less than $1. There are over 700 food donors and 194 receipted agencies (charities). It currently exists in Sydney and Canberra with the first trucks rolling out in Adelaide soon. One of the largest hurdles is the legislation which prevents services like OzHarvest from donating as it holds OzHarvest and the donors themselves liable. Through Ronni lobbying the government, in 2005 an amendment made to Part 8A of the Civil Liability Act which states as long as food is given away for a charitable purpose, there is no risk of liability.
OzHarvest driver Andrew
I take a look at Andrew’s clipboard. On the left there is a list of pick ups we need to make and then along the way we will also drop the food off and all are in a logical sequence for driving. OzHarvest doesn’t store any food, it distributes it usually within a two hour window of it being picked up so by the end of the day, the van should be empty and the charities stocked with food. I take a look at the list. There is Aldi and Woolworths which are our first stops. And I did mention who doesn’t donate? Coles is the only one of the three major supermarkets not to donate. I ask Lisa Stapleton, a volunteer coordinator why and she says “Unfortunately we have not yet had any interest from the people we approached within Coles to come on board as food donors”.
The list of pickups and drop offs
Aldi store managers
We stop at Aldi and what they have each day is always a surprise. Sometimes there will be a lot of food but sometimes there may just be the one variety. Andrew tells me that one day he just picked up a huge amount of potatoes. Today there is a lot of bread. Bread is one commodity that is plentiful. As it is so cheap to produce, bakeries often make much more than they need to. Interestingly, bread like sourdough is hard to give away as it is a harder bread and many of the charities have clients whose teeth aren’t in good condition and it is hard for them to eat. All drivers undergo a food safety exam prior to working there.
“Meat is like gold”
What is the most precious commodity? “Meat is like gold” Andrew says. It is expensive to buy and everyone wants it as I learn later when the charities have a look at what is available. “We once got 20 boxes of Cleavers organic meat because it was labelled with the wrong weight” he tells me.
Pastabilities
We stop at Woolworths where we pick up an assortment of food including a lot of the prized meat and the Pastabilities which has a huge esky of frozen filled pasta.
Pong holding 5 large banana breads
Cookies baked for 15 minutes longer, not quite perfect so not sellable
Our next stop is the Spotted Cow cookie factory where we are greeted by Pong who gives us an enormous 11 boxes of cookies. Each box has about 120 cookies inside them! They are good until 2011 so we ask why they are giving them away and Pong shows us that they were baked for about 15 minutes too long which results in the smarties inside them breaking so they’re not of a saleable condition. We also get 5 enormous cafe sized loaves of banana bread.
A last minute pickup
The mobile phone beeps and there’s a new message. Each van has a GPS so that Head Office can see where they are and when a business calls for a pickup they text them to pick up a new shipment.
Packing away cupcakes at Ghermez
One of five boxes
We’re headed off to Ghermez cupcakes! As they’re a regular donor Andrew gives them boxes to use. They have four boxes ready for us and are about to fill a fifth. They’re all the same flavour and curious I feel the cupcake assuming that they would be older and drier cupcakes but they’re soft and fresh.
Don Bosco House
With our van halfway full we make a stop to our first destination- Don Bosco House which is part of the Youth Off the Street program. What is key is matching the charity to the need. Not all charities have kitchens so they can’t always take the fresh, uncooked meats. At Don Bosco, they are feeding boys so when a guy comes out and whoops at the sight of “Cupcakes! Cookies!” he is excited. “I’ve never seen someone so excited to see the OzHarvest van” the woman from Don Bosco laughs. At Don Bosco they take two trays of sandwiches, a banana bread, cookies, cupcakes and more. This charity sleeps 11 boys. Is there anything that OzHarvest won’t take? Apart from cooked rice and soft shelled seafood as they have a high contamination potential they also won’t take products that contain alcohol due to the profile of the charity’s clients.
And where is the best quality food found? Not surprisingly, from the sets of television food shows like Masterchef and My Kitchen Rules. Andrew recalls entire wheels of reggiano and white truffles. The items aren’t close to being used by and they are top quality but they just don’t need them for the show anymore if they were to be used in a cookoff challenge. White truffles! Yes!
Crystal Street Community House, Petersham
Dropping off cookies to Crystal Street Community House
We then visit a community store where they hold a weekly barbecue for boarders who live next door and any extra food that isn’t eaten then is given to the boarders to supplement their meals. They have a standing request: sausages, onion and bread for the BBQ. Andrew explains that there is a corporate volunteer present – many large corporations have their employees do voluntary work for two days a year. Interestingly, did you know that St Vincent De Paul has a corporate sleepout where CEOs, business and community leaders sleep outside on cardboard to see what it’s like to be homeless? Interesting!
Lots of strawberries!
After the second Woolworths and Aldi pickup
We have two more pickups to make, one at Aldi and one at Woolworths. The Aldi one yields a lot of bread and some fruit and vegetables whereas the Woolworths one yields a large carton with punnets of strawberries, lots of fruit and vegetables and about twenty cakes and pies!
We are then scheduled to drop these off to a women’s refuge and a young persons refuge in Leichhardt. The women’s refuge are interested in fruit and vegetables and meat as well as a lot of bread and they take a lot of the bread supply which Andrew is happy to give as it can be hard to give away. The young person’s refuge takes much the same along with some cakes, shallots and other things they can cook with.
Victoire Sourdough
Our last stops for the morning are in nearby Balmain at Victoire bakery where we pick up a large bag of bread and then at Darling Treats where cakes and other baked goods are handed over.
Darling’s Treat Patisserie in Balmain
The Darling Treats pickup of cakes and breads
The afternoon for Andrew will be filled with corporate pickups wherein banks, accountants, lawyers and other business call OzHarvest to pick up food that has been ordered in for catering of meetings and events. Although they mean well sometimes they can get calls for a box of four apples. Between 4.30pm and 10.30pm one van is operational with one person taking calls and this is to pick up items like barbecued chickens and other takeaway food items that haven’t sold from takeaway shops and steak houses and pie shops.
Chefs from restaurants don’t tend to donate food as they are usually quite good at ordering so that there isn’t much wastage so they donate money instead. And how much of the food is used? 100% of the food that charities receive is used. The charities know what they need and how much they can use and don’t tend to take more than they will use. Andrew tells me that the food budget for a place like the Newtown Mission is a miniscule $100 a week so it is a much welcome and needed service. Another organisation is FoodBank who deal with non perishables and they store the perishables and charge the charities a nominal fee for the produce.
It’s the end of the food ride for me today and it is fascinating how much excess food there is and how much the charities rely on this service and how much they can take. Andrew tells me “This is a comparatively small amount, sometimes we fill our vans until they’re full”.
So tell me Dear Reader, would you donate food to places like OzHarvest?
OzHarvest
To donate food or volunteer at OzHarvest, see their website: http://www.ozharvest.com.au/
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105 Comments | Add your own
I think this is such a great story Lorraine and what a great service! I’ve walked past some bakeries in the morning and see their stacks of old bread going to waste. There is just so much good food being wasted that could instead be given to the people who really need it! We need more services like this and more stores involved! Thank you for sharing this with us Lorraine! x
This is better than donating money!
I worked at a woolies for a long time and saw how much went to waste. Dumpster diving was a huge problem. I remember people asking for lettuce scraps for pets and we had to say no. Small charities would ask for left over bread saying we were just going to chuck it out anyway. But the liability problem was always an issue. This is a much needed organisation to help prevent the waste- Thanks for raising awareness.
Did Mr. NQN become as Smurf after all that blue jelly?
What a great piece. It was very eye-opening to see how much fantastic food would go to waste without this organization. Like you, too, I always assumed a lot of the food would be pretty dried out or shriveled. But it all looks totally usable and delicious. Nice to see it all find a good home where it will be valued, too.
Wonderful to see that successful Australian businesses are giving back to their communitites! That’s what it’s all about…
These guys are such inspirations! And it is such a great cause
thanks for shharing this story. This is a fantastic idea and it’s great to see that the food isn’t going to waste. It makes me all warm and fuzzy to read things like this.
Fantastic idea!!!
I would if I had a food business! Good work for getting the message out there this was interesting too.
Thanks for the great insight into an OzHarvest day, Lorraine – I’m a big fan of what they do.
And it’s great to see Ghermez participating as I know some other cupcake stores that see it as “too hard” to donate to OzHarvest.
Thankyou so much Lorraine for researching and publishing thus story…. There are so many good people in the world….
Such a great cause! Its good to have an insight as to how much does actually go to waste as we all know it happens but never see it. Thanks for raising awareness Lorraine
Loarraine, this is such a wonderful idea and so great that you are highlighting it in your blog with so many readers. I love this and think more people should be this way!
My first job out of uni was a Youth Worker at Don Bosco House (then called St Vinnies for Youth) – I also was the Volunteer Coordinator for the food van that took out food to Central Station and the ‘Wall’ to feed the homeless. The van was manual and I had to learn how to drive manual because of the food van – otherwise Father Riley said he’d fire me! *LOL*. I think he was just trying to get me not to be a chicken about driving the manual van. B xoxo
Fabulous to see you’ve seen first hand what amazing work OzHarvest does.
Great Christmas present idea: $50 donations in the name of friends – that puts 50 meals in front of people who really need it….and after all, we really do have enough stuff don’t we!
I think it’s great to see some larger supermarkets getting on board, but it is sad that Coles hasn’t. I saw them throw out huge bags full of bread yesterday that probably had nothing wrong with them.
I’d love to get my workplace on board to donate left-overs from meeting etc, I’ll look into that this week
OK, this is odd, I had a dream recently that this very thing was happening globally!!
What an awesome service, YES use the excess to feed those in need, it’s all useable, good stuff, and doesn’t cost much! Kudos to those who organize these services!
What a great story! I am so pleased that there are organisations such as this one re-distributing food to those who need it. I agree with Michelle Chin, it is far better than giving money as this is perfectly good food that would have gone to waste.
NQN & CO. Thanks for putting such great effort into an important topic and a vital cause.
This is the kind of diverse written content for foodies that makes for quality reading and information.
I have a long association in hospitality and have witnessed some of the most disgusting and vulgar examples of waste that made me think… we’re not much better than those extravagant aristocrats of centuries past.
Thankfully, I also see a growing number of socially aware businesses that are committed to more responsible purchasing, waste management; and also sharing with those less fortunate.
Forget Mary McKillop, Ronni Khan is a living Saint. If I ever win lotto she’ll be getting a fat slice of it. In the meantime I encourage all my friends in hospitality to go the extra mile for Oz Harvest.
And perhaps there are some restaurateurs out there willing to invite Ronni in for the occasional free dinner for the sacrifices she makes.
I love this NQN!!!
I would absolutely donate to places like OzHarvest – I thnk it is a marvellous idea.
Thank you for this post Lorraine. I’d love to be becme a volunteer.
What a fantastic story, Lorraine! I recently read your story on Freeganism and was very impressed – this story was just as marvellous. Thank you for featuring such a practical organisation such as OzHarvest, I’m sure with your profile their name will reach thousands of new ears. Well done!
Wow, this is such a great service. I am always horrified by how much food gets wasted in our society – and I can be guilty of it myself.
I would love to see more places donating to Oz Harvest and Food Bank. It seems to ridiculous that we have so much food wastage and so many people who need it.
Great story, both yours and Anna’s! The wastage in food really is mindboggling. But I still think you should have turfed the blue jelly. Even the charities wouldn’t have taken that..hahaha
Tsk tsk Coles…
I hate wastage too, especially food wastage! What a feel-good story!
Wow what a fantastic initiative.
I’m very glad to find out what happens to all that food on Masterchef. I’ve wondered that many times. I bet last night’s seafood and chicken left over from the second challenge would have been well received!
I only wish there was something like this in Brisbane.
I think it is great that more is coming to light about this amzing charity. I have been donating money to them for the last 2 years, as it still costs them close to a $1 per meal to keep the van on the road and cover there admin costs. Having worked for another charity as an employee many donors forget that a charity is still a business that has overheads that have to be covered. And while this isn’t as romantic as curing cancer, or helping a sick kid, or feeding the homeless… without the actual donations of money they can’t perform their dedicated service. I think all foodies should donate to Ozharvest and the amazing work they do.
This is an awesome idea and so glad there are people out there willing to help. I see these vans from time to time and it’s good to hear that they are really making a difference.
Lets hope that more and more companies get on board and help out intead of filling our landfills.
What a GREAT story and organization, TRUE!
Glad that in Sydney, it does work too!
Have personally donanted hampers, baskets and HEAPS of foods to reputable organizations in Adelaide, only to find out the food was being sold for money…so makes one wonder whether for those who the food was intended received any personal/family help too…Now they ask for people to donate gift cards and not food, TRUE!
So now, I do things on the more “personal level” anonymously too!
I am sure everyone’s foodie minds are racing: CAN THEY MAKE CROUTONS AND RE-SELL AND GIVE MONEY TO THESE GROUPS? CAN THEY MAKE BREAD PUDDINGS AND FREEZE??? CAN THEY INCLUDE RECIPES LIKE WARM MILK OVER BREAD WITH THOSE STRAWBERRIES AS I KNOW THAT FOR ELDERLY CRUSTS WOULD BE DIFFICULT AND EVEN HARD TO CUT AWAY WITH KNIFE; BAKED IN FOIL WITH TAD OF WATER WOULD SOFTEN SOMEWHAT; SO GREAT IS THIS EFFORT, GOD BLESS ALL INVOLVED…THANK YOU FOR THIS POST, Lorraine
What a great story Lorraine.I once worked as a chef for a charity, & was astonished at all the food that was given away.
It’s really great that companies do this instead of just throwing it away.
this was a fantastic story! i’ve always been interested in ozharvest after seeing them down at the growers markets in pyrmont and it was great to get an insight into how it all works.
Wonderful! Waste always bothers me too. I freeze everything we don’t use and regularly refuse to buy groceries until we clear out the leftovers. Great to see legislation change to actually help those who need it!
This is wonderful! Now let’s hope it’s coming to Melbourne soon! Waste (especially food) is one of my biggest pet peeves and I’m glad to see many large companies are doing something about it. That being said, I hope Coles gets on board ASAP. While I try to avoid the supermarkets as much as possible, it’s hard as they’re such a monopoly. I’ll be shopping at Safeway/Aldi from now on!
Great report Lorraine!
I can imagine Mr. NQN breathe a relief sigh and told you that you can always donate these meals for OzHarvest. Also, I can predict that there will be no more jellies for Mr. NQN for some time or several months
Oops, just went to OzHarvest website and they can not receive food from individual homes? Maybe these volunteers will be happy to have meals cooked by you?
That is amazing.. I often wonder what happen to the food that nobody wants anymore from the shops and restaurants. And I always hope they go to people who need them!
Great post!!
Fantastic story Lorraine! Oz Harvest is such a wonderful charity, it’s really interesting to see behind the scenes.
What a great story. I didn’t even know OzHarvest existed. 3 cheers for all the volunteers!!
I have always known of the waste of food. I did not know about donations and those that work to make sure that the food gets to people who can use it. I will check out what you have talked about in the US. I am glad that you wrote this out as a good reminder for those who can help. No food should be wasted, and personally if I purchase something that is not good I return it. It is sad as there are so many that need a service like this. I just read the last post and surprised that food cannot come from individual homes, but I imagine that this is fresh foods made at home and donated as in the US. We donate canned foods and those are given to those that need food especially this time of the year, but truly all year round.
Posts like this (I read Anna’s blog too, so have thought about this before) are so eye-opening. Somehow we tend to think that “excess” food is inedible, not wasted just because it isn’t perfect! Applause to all the companies that donate, and to OzHarvest for their efforts too
What a fantastic organisation. And thanks for enlightening me.
What a great service this organization is providing to those in need. It is important not to waste food, a precious commodity.
What an inspirational story, fantastic! Have signed up today! Apparently not operational in Perth…yet!
Wonderful story! My grandfather for years did the “bread run”, picking up the unsold loaves of bread from Bakers delight and dropping them off that night to people in need. Unfortunately they stopped donating them after a time (there was a reason but I am not sure of it) and instead the bread was thrown away.
It is wonderful to see so many companies ensuring that food is not wasted and goes where it is needed most!
This is great. Absolulte great. What an experience
Of course I would! Whenever we have moved, we have had loads of pantry items to donate, but no charitable organisations to give them to. In the end, we have given them to friends, who accept them, but have never said thanks. I would much rather give them to an organisation who could use them for those really in need.
BRILLIANT!!!
Great Work, Lorraine!
I volunteer at a local community organisation once a week. The premises is an old house which holds several different community oriented businesses and a mental health agency. On Fridays the Food Not Bombs people come in to use the kitchen. Food Not Bombs is an all-volunteer organization dedicated to nonviolent social change. The Food Not Bombs group recovers food that would otherwise be thrown out and makes fresh hot vegan and vegetarian meals that are served in outside in public spaces to anyone without restriction.
It constantly amazes me how many people are working to make these great ideas and philosophies a working practicality in our communities.
I think OzHarvest is such a worthwhile organisation. I’m a regular Coles shopper and have a Coles card as well. I intend writing to Coles at once and telling them I’m moving to Woolworths and their card if they don’t make the effort to donate their food. Thanks for letting me know, and could anyone else who shops at Coles join me in this, please?
This is such a good service!! Hope more bakeries and restaurants will start donating their leftover instead of throwing them away..
I’m so glad we’ve got this service here in Canberra. We need to get every city on board now! The more this type of chrarity known and talked about, the higher profile it will have, and maybe grab the attention of the powers-that-be. Great post.
This is a really special post Lorraine. As much as we all love food, it is mindblowing how much of it ends up in the bin. I work in large organisation with a staff canteen and the amount of food that gets thrown in the canteen would make you all livid. There have even been occasions when we have had catered lunches with loads of food left uneaten and they wont let us take it home (the liability thing!)
Thanks for making us all aware that such a fantastic organisation exists and that there are a lot of wonderful companies out there that are willing to help out. No more shopping at Coles for me.
You are a star!
What a great insight into a fabulous organisation. Thank you!
About 16 years ago I did a 2 year “cooks” course at my local techincal college,anything we cooked we werent allowed to take home,a local drug and alcohol refugee van would come and take away our cooked goodies. We were so pleased it was not going to waste,if we had time left over the teacher would let us do extra so the refugee could have more, always made us feel pleased we could help out.
PS Yes on occasion we would sneak the odd thing out in our ‘tool kit box’ for the other half at home that had to fend for themselves that night!!
OZharvest is awesome!
Thank you so much NQN for supporting the work we do and getting the word out there about OzHarvest! If any of your readers are interested in receiving updates from us please sign up for our newsletter on our website http://www.ozharvest.org or follow us on facebook, http://www.facebook.com/pages/OzHarvest-Sydney/8501821538
oops meant refuge not refugee!!
Haha, at least next time you can give the jelly to OzHarvest!
Great story though, I used to work at KFC Hoxton Park and they’d throw out tonnes of food at the end of the night, chicken, chips, bread rolls… And forget charities and stuff, they wouldn’t even let employees take food. Fast food chains definitely need to come on board!
As Canberra’s OzHarvest Ambassador I was so excited to see that you’d gone out on a food rescue, what an awesome job the guys do getting the food turned around so quickly. Thanks so much for the shout out too lovely
OzHarvest is an amazing organisation, and they provide a great service. The reality however is that they and other organisations like them deal with only a fraction of the waste that comes from the food retail industry. Lorraine I picked up on your comment that restaurant chefs know how to order to meet demand and have very little waste. Why, oh why cant our food retail sector re-calibrate itself to do the same? I get worried that wonderful services like OzHarvest are in some ways letting the big wasters, the supermarkets and food retailers, off the hook by giving them a legitimate and palatable “market” for their waste. To put another slant on it, and to perhaps provide a bit of a stick for the retailers to change their wasteful practices, I would like to see some kind of carbon tax on wasted food, which takes into account the embedded energy and water that comes right through the food supply chain only to end up in landfill, creating more green house gases. It is insane that half the world’s population are starving, while so much food is wasted like this. Just another way to think about it…
I’m so glad to see so many places donating food. Many years ago I worked at a cafeteria in a shopping centre, and at the end of the day there was always heaps of sandwiches and cakes left that were just thrown away. I asked my boss if I could take the food to a local women’s shelter but he wasn’t interested and I was always very upset to see so much food go to waste. I think Ozharvest and the companies that donate to it are doing a fabulous thing.
Wow!! This is so interesting! I read about this before, in a magazine but it sounded nowhere near as interesting as this! Shame on Coles….>:( This must be such a satisfying job- now I’m interested in volunteering too!!
Wow Lorraine, this is such a wonderful story…. One of your best, for sure. Both informative and emotional, a true eye-opener.
I knew about OzHarvest of course, but I had no idea about the extent of what they do, and all the work and logistics that go behind it. Big kudos to them, all their volunteers and all the donors / partners! You see, in France we still have that legislation issue around potential food poisoning and liability, unfortunately, which is really a big problem when you see all the food being wasted on major events and PR gigs…
Anyway, I’ll definitely be donating money to OzHarvest this year. I think I’ll also make them my charity partner of choice for all the Mytinerary events. And I’ll also do my bit to spread the message next time I’m hiring caterers for events!
I always shop at coles but now I may have to re think this decision.
I will also be hitting my boss up for answers as to why we don’t donate our left over cupcakes when our competition can and do! I hate throwing them out and now I know that liability isn’t an excuse makes it even worse!
Thanks for bringing up the issue. And if I were in a position to dontate food I definitely would
Hello
Wonderful article NQN.
I just wanted to quickly point out that Coles do support Foodbank, who, like Ozharvest, provide a worthwhile service to the community by recycling food from retailers:
http://www.foodbank.com.au
This is such a great initiative. I think it would be great if all businesses did this. It’s crazy to think how much goes to waste!
Great post, Lorraine.
We have church or charity feeding programs. And food kitchens.
I read an article recently about how food donations from restaurants are down because they have become more efficient.
Glad you had the opportunity to see this organization at work and tell us about your day with them.
What a fastastic venture! It is such a shame how much food is wasted.. I know some companies are scared that if they donate food and someone gets sick they will be sued but really, when you look at the enormous amounts of food going into the garbage, it’s just appalling! Anyway, I’d eat those cupcakes
i love that you blogged about this. it’s such a great venture. I used to work in cake shop and all the leftovers were mostly thrown away. in fact, our boss didn’t allow us to take more than 2 cakes each home but some days, one of our managers would come and take them to give away at mosques. Something about not wanting to get sued for food poisoning and stuff which is very selfish! We defintely need more people like this to stop food wastage!! x
I read Anna’s blog post a few weeks ago and was thrilled to read that Adelaide will be joining this great cause very soon. I’ve been really inspired and have been in contact with the Adelaide team to see how I can participate.
Good to see it is such good food being donated! It is fantastic. I loved this post, along with Anna’s. Great work!
Heidi xo
So good to see all this food going to good use instead of waste. I have heard horror stories about supermarkets deliberately destroying their food so it cannot be eaten by freegans or others – this is a much better approach!
Absolutely! I also hate waste.
Fantastic story & what a great service!
What a great post Lorraine! It is great that charities like this exist. I have a few colleagues that always take our leftovers from meetings and give to homeless people on their way home. Even though we try not to order too much it is difficult sometimes, so it is great that my colleagues make the effort, I really should too!
This is so interesting, Lorraine. I am wondering if we have the same organization in Singapore.
Great post, very inspiring!
That’s such a cool concept!
This sounds like a pretty amazing company! During high school I worked at the Manhattan Bagel and at the end of the day I remember they either threw everything out (crazy!) or let the employees take home whatever they wanted. But there’s only so much freezer space for bagels, lol! This sounds like a pretty amazing thing to do with excess food.
It’s great that you got to find out how they work behind the scenes. My husbands work gives a lot to Oz Harvest, but still so much wastage!
Fantastic story, lorraine! But do you have any idea on where we as private homeowners are able to donate food? Say canned food that’s still good to use but we no longer want it?
Another fantastic and insightful post. It’s great that you had the opportunity to spend a day with these guys and show the fantastic work they do – especially to an audience that may not be aware of this service
What a fantastic post – so informative. OzHarvest is a great organisation. The amount of food waste around is so awful…
Thanks for this excellent post, a bird’s eye view of a day out with OzHarvest! We here in Adelaide are looking forward to having them start up here very soon – I work in the State government waste & recycling agency here, and many of our business/industry/government sites will be keen to donate excess food to OzHarvest, as not only is this service FREE (compared to costs for landfill or organics collection for composting), but this is also diverting methane-generating materials from landfill, and sending this food (with its embedded energy, water, nutrients, investment and effort) to its highest and best use – human consumption.
What a great cause such inspiring work. I wouldn’t mind sitting in that Van with Andrew the volunteer all day I can tell you. Whoo that’s some hot tamale!
Such a fantastic cause and a great article. Very inspiring work. I wouldn’t mind spending a day in that van with Andrew the volunteer! Whoo that’s some hot tamale!
A very inspiring read, Lorraine.
As someone who hates wasting food, I get incensed every time I’m at a buffet restaurant and see people pile loads of food onto their plates only to waste them at the end. It annoys me to no end. Thank goodness a lot of restaurants are now charging “wastage fees” for those who waste food in that manner – I think it’s a fantastic idea
Love the post NGN…
I live on the southside of brisbane halfway between the city and the GC. There is a similar church charity who receives lots of donated goods and a couple of time when money has been extremely tight I have gone and picked up a trolley full of food for only $20.
Some problems with that is that the ‘fresh’ produce is a little too fresh… bruised tomatoes, slimy lettuce, a 1kg bag of bearnaise sauce past it’s use by date??! There is alot of food past its selling date, but still edible (barely) and heaps of junk food, so it’s hard to eat healthy…
What a great, interesting story. I hate waste and imagining in large scale makes me sick to my stomach. There are so many people out there trying to help and change things. This post really inspires me to check out what organizations do this where I live.
Lorraine! This is my most favourite post of your’s yet. What a great day and Oz Harvest is such a wonderful service. Cheers all round
That really is a great story Lorraine. I remember the days when I was young and helped out at my uncle’s bakery, at the end of the day so much bread just got thrown out! But that was before OzHarvest started. Good on them!
Brilliant post Lorraine! Very informative.
Hi, I’m Orry from Bakers Delight. Just wanted to clarify… where we can our bakeries donate left over bread to charity. If there are any charities interested in collecting leftover bread at the end of the day, they should definitely touch base with their local bakery. If they don’t have existing relationships with charities, they may be able to help out.
Reading this post really put a smile on my face, thank you Lorraine! Such a wonderful cause. The amount of wastage that happens in our society makes me quite upset, and angry, but knowing there are good people out there doing good things like this makes it all a bit better.
Thank you to Laura for kindly pointing out that Coles do actually have a very similar program in place with Foodbank.
Wow! What an interesting article. Oz Harvest is such a fantastic charity.
Touching story Lorraine. So much positivity and so much giving back! Yay to Ronni Khan for beginning this, and Yay to you for delivering this beautiful story! Well done dahlin’…
I am a Melbourne freegan and make regular trips to my local Aldi dumpster to retrieve all of the near-perfect goodies inside. It amazes and upsets me every time I go how much fantastic and edible food there is in there, and to think how much of it will likely go to waste.
OzHarvest truly is an organisation providing a vital public service, helping our communities in ways that are not so obvious at first glance. Not only do hungry people get fed but the sustainability of our community is enhanced. Food that was grown and produced using water, fossil fuels and nutrients from our land is not simply thrown away to cause another environmental problem elsewhere but is used by people who would have had to buy other food regardless, food with it’s own resource footprint.
Any organisation that not only helps people, but also helps the environment, is okay by me. I look forward to the time that OzHarvest comes to Melbourne and I can donate my time to helping them do their work.
Claire, SecondBite in Melbourne have a similar service check it out!
http://www.secondbite.org/
Wonderful giving work to where it is needed. Well done to all the staff.
I would donate my food to OzHarvest but unfortunately homes aren’t allowed to i believe, only businesses and licensed caterers. but it’s a great cause and i too hate wasting food. i’m so glad all this food isn’t going to waste and is helping those you are less fortunate in the community that need help
I would donate my food to OzHarvest but unfortunately homes aren’t allowed to i believe, only businesses and licensed caterers. but it’s a great cause and i too hate wasting food. i’m so glad all this food isn’t going to waste and is helping those who are less fortunate in the community that need help
Is this a Christian organization?
I’d sure like to consider getting involved in helping out.
I never like to see food wasted.
Edwin
Hats off to you volunteers. You done a great job.Good work. Keep it up.
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