Communities across NSW will have the opportunity to take part in an Australian-first program to reduce household and business waste.
Four communities across NSW will take part in the two-year Love Food Communities program.
The program will be run in the following areas:
- Sydney – delivered by City of Sydney Council
- Central coast – delivered by Central Coast Council
- Mid north coast – delivered by Midwaste
- North coast – delivered by North East Waste
The program will provide 17,000 households and nearly 500 businesses with $1 million in funding to plan and deliver a whole-of-city approach to food waste prevention.
Currently, 750,000 tonnes of food is thrown away by NSW households and businesses each year.
As well as households and businesses, each project will target at least one other sector to reduce food waste. This includes aged care, schools, pubs and clubs and food manufacturers.
Participants will need to complete a survey to understand how much food they are throwing out so that they can change their food practices and learn how to better store food and reuse leftovers.
Environment Minister Matt Kean said this initiative will help reduce food waste and save families money in the process.
“I want to see less food being wasted across our communities and these grants will support the recipients to do just that by changing behaviour and giving people and businesses the tools they need to make informed decisions,” Mr Kean said.