Facing the facts about food waste
Every year, it’s estimated New Zealand wastes more than 100,000* tonnes of food.
You might be surprised to know it’s wasted because of use-by dates, mislabelling, damaged packaging or even cancelled orders.
Around 60%* of all food dumped into landfills is perfectly good to eat.
At the same time, one in every five Kiwi children live in households^ where there isn’t enough food to put on the table.
Food waste also contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, squandering the water, land and energy used to grow it.
At Rabobank we work together with farmers, helping them sustainably grow food for New Zealanders, and the world. The last thing anyone wants to see is any food being wasted, especially when families are going hungry.
That’s why we’ve teamed up with national food rescue charity KiwiHarvest, who are doing something about it.
* Ministry for the Environment commissioned report, Household Waste Data 2008
^ Ministry of Health Household Food Insecurity Among Children: New Zealand Health Survey 2019
KiwiHarvest is on a mission to reduce the amount of good food that is wasted each and every day, and make sure that it gets to tables in our most vulnerable communities.
Collecting good food before it goes to waste, KiwiHarvest gets it to those in need by distributing it through community groups and social agencies
So far KiwiHarvest has saved over 4.1 million kilograms of food and delivered over 11.4 million meals – mainly fruit and vegetables.
Operating in Auckland, the North Shore, Dunedin, Hawkes Bay and Queenstown, KiwiHarvest is now planning to expand and bring their service to more regions.
Right now, one of KiwiHarvest’s greatest challenges is keeping up with offers of quality bulk food, that would otherwise be heading to landfills.
KiwiHarvest is doing a great job, and we’re hungry to help out.
With our help, KiwiHarvest will immediately be able to invest in much needed resources and equipment at its South Auckland warehouse, plus another refrigerated vehicle for collecting food.
Rabobank teams across the country will get involved by providing valuable community volunteering, including helping out at KiwiHarvest’s distribution centres.
Rabobank is a regular at events such as National and Regional Field days where we attract lots of visitors, we’ll spread the word about reducing food waste, supporting families in need and helping the environment.
Globally, approximately 40% of all food produced doesn’t make it to the plate