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With the average New Zealand household throwing away three shopping trolleys’ worth of food a year, Auckland Council is again funding grants to individuals and organisations running food rescue schemes and other initiatives designed to prevent food waste.
The application period for the “Love Food Hate Waste” grants opens on February 1 and closes on March 5. Successful applicants will be notified in April.
The fund has a total of $60,000 to award, with grants ranging from $500 to $5000 available for educational projects and activities that support people to make the most of their food.
Previous recipients of the grants include Sustainable Ōrewa, which used funding received last year to hold a series of workshops at the Ōrewa Community Garden, where Judith Rosamund from Kaipatiki Project taught participants how to grow their own food in their backyard gardens.
“The aim was to rely less on supermarket prices and become more empowered and self-sufficient,” said Sustainable Ōrewa coordinator Lena Kovac. “Keen gardeners from all walks of life and gardening experience learnt how to start their own vegie garden, how to build and maintain healthy soil, how to troubleshoot and what to grow in which season.”
Sustainable Ōrewa also received Love Food Hate Waste funding in 2022, and used it to run a project at Ōrewa College to raise awareness of food waste in students’ lunch boxes.
Hibiscus Coast Zero Waste also successfully applied for a grant last year. Trustee Betsy Kettle said the money was used to hold a workshop at Northcross Intermediate for food tech teachers from six intermediate schools, “a full day of sharing ideas and creating new menus using upcycled and rescued food”.
Auckland Council is one of 52 councils and community groups that support Love Food Hate Waste NZ, a campaign highlighting the issue of preventable food waste.
Prior to council’s food scraps bin service, food waste made up 45 percent of the weight of an average household’s rubbish bag or bin.
Love Food Hate Waste NZ says households nationwide throw away around 157,398 tonnes of food per year. It says food waste in landfills is a major contributor to climate change and preventing it is one of the simplest ways to make an impact at home.
More info: Visit the Auckland Council website and search ‘LFHW’.
