Abstract
We used macro-economic data and aggregated waste data to estimate that, in 2011, New Zealand households generated over 224,000 tonnes of food waste, and New Zealand industry generated over 103,000 tonnes of food waste. We split New Zealand’s food waste into 14 food-waste categories and found that 7% is related to “fresh” produce, and 93% “processed” food waste. The value of New Zealand’s food waste in 2011 is estimated to be NZ $568 million, or $131 per person. Furthermore, New Zealand’s food waste represents 163 × 109 calories in total, and avoidable food waste would be able to feed between 50,000 and 80,000 people a year. New Zealand food waste embodies 4.2 × 106 tonnes of CO2-e, 4.7 × 109 m3 of water, and 29 × 103 TJ of energy. Nonetheless, we find that, compared to other nations, New Zealanders waste less food per capita by weight, value and calorie.
Highlights
It is estimated that 30%–50% of all food produced never reaches a human stomach [1,2], and up to 60% of the food tossed into landfills is still edible fresh food [3,4,5,6]
New Zealand households generated over 224,000 tonnes of food waste in 2011, with industry generating over 103,000 tonnes of food waste
Like the National Food Waste Prevention Project, our estimate is for waste disposed via “formal” disposal methods, and does not include food waste disposed of via backyard composting, feeding to animals, food rescue or sewer disposal
Summary
It is estimated that 30%–50% of all food produced never reaches a human stomach [1,2], and up to 60% of the food tossed into landfills is still edible fresh food [3,4,5,6]. Agriculture 2016, 6, 9 dollars a year [32,33], an audit of hospital food waste [34], a master’s thesis that investigated household food waste with an intervention case study [35], a literature review by the Waiheke Resources Trust [36], and a consulting report for WasteMINZ , the largest representative body of the waste and resource recovery sector in New Zealand [37]. These final three documents provide a solid review of pre-2014. Cycle Analysis (WIO-LCA) methodology [46] to quantify the cost, greenhouse gas equivalents, water and energy emissions embodied in New Zealand food waste in 2011
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