First Steps for Every Bite
With fridges rearranged and fading vegetables transformed, the first set of participants completed their journey through the Every Bite programme in February.
Professional Chef Evelyn June of the Dripping Bowl presenting at the Every Bite Programme launch in Wānaka. Photo: Orla Ó Muiri.
‘We’d like to offer a huge thanks to our first participants, and the delivery teams from the local zero waste and environment centre hubs that are running the pilots,’ said project manager Rachel Glasier.
‘We really appreciate how willing people were to take part in the pilots which have helped us figure out what works, what doesn’t, and why, so we can shape up the programme for the next wave of participants. We’ve all learned so much from your mahi.’
Preventing food waste
Food waste is a hot topic at the moment. It touches on key concerns for New Zealanders - cost of living, protecting our environment and climate change issues. Every Bite is a short programme that helps people make simple changes at home to prevent food waste.
Every Bite helps people to first figure out whether they are producing edible food waste. And then if they are, Every Bite provides a couple of simple experiments to try at home so people can learn more about what works for their family or household to help them waste less.
Preventing food waste at its source is the most effective way to reduce both cost and impacts. Using up the food you already have on hand saves money because you don’t have to buy fresh food when you have things that could be used sitting at the back of the fridge. Only buying what you need reduces emissions upstream in the food and grocery supply chain.
At the moment the global economy is producing more food than we need. Land use change and farming practices are creating unnecessary ecosystem damage and biodiversity loss. Putting edible food waste in the compost makes us feel a bit better, but it doesn’t help to reduce these upstream costs or impacts.
Why did people get involved with Every Bite?
Reducing their environmental impact was the main motivator for the people that took part in the every bite pilots. They wanted to minimise their food waste and learn more about sustainability. Half of programme participants were in families with children, 28% were in couples. Most of the participants were women (80%).
83% of pilot participants felt that Every Bite helped them prevent food waste, and thought that the programme could be useful to others. Some participants realised they were already doing a great job with food waste prevention and that they had useful tips and tricks to share with others.
86% of participants were inspired to share their learning with others. Many also shared valuable insights about how the pilot programme could be improved with the Every Bite development team.
Local communities having a national impact
The Every Bite pilots were delivered by four hub partners: Wastebusters (Wānaka), Environment Network Manawatū, Sustainable Hawkes Bay and Go Eco (Kirikiriroa Hamilton).
One goal of collaborating to develop and deliver a food waste prevention program is to give local households a practical pathway to reducing their food waste. The second goal is to share learning, knowledge and experience across the nationwide network of zero waste hubs and environment hubs.
This will help all the hubs in the network get better at supporting their communities to change their behaviour so that the individual actions of people across Aotearoa can add up to a significant reduction in food waste, emissions and environmental damage.
‘We believe helping to create and deliver Every Bite will have a positive impact on food resilience in the region, and build skills in project development within our team." says Environment Network Manawatū Coordinator Madz BatachEl.
What we’ve learned so far
Pilot participants gave the three main program activities a thumbs up.
‘Measuring food waste’, helped people to figure out whether they are wasting edible food. 74% percent of the people that tried this experiment found it useful for increasing their self-awareness. ‘It has been a life-changer for me,’ said one woman. ‘I have changed my behaviour and my attitudes regarding food in general.’
And the shift feels sustainable, with 83% of pilot participants intending to continue focussing on food waste reduction going forward. People also reported really enjoying the chance to chat with other like-minded locals at the launch and wrap-up events.
‘We know that most people think they don't waste food - but when you look at the food waste audit data, it turns out that most of us do,’ says Rachel Glasier. ‘It can be hard to look in the mirror, so the Every Bite program gives people space to figure out what is actually happening at home, alongside the support to find practical small changes that collectively have a big impact.’
Taking stock of what you already have on hand so you know what needs to be used up first is a handy skill to practise. 86% of the pilot participants who set up an ‘Eat me first’ shelf, found it helped them to prevent food waste. One Hawke’s Bay participant discovered enough food to use up that she didn’t need to shop for three weeks!
Growing the confidence to make a meal from ingredients on hand rather than going out to the shops for new food is another useful outcome. 83% of people doing the ‘Weekly meal challenge’ experiment found it helped them reduce their food waste.
Overall, with the combination of these three activities, pilot participants gained a better understanding of what food they were wasting, and learned simple ways to prevent some of their avoidable food waste.
Every Bite is delivered by members of the Zero Waste Network and Environment Hubs Aotearoa. The second round of pilots are currently underway, with another round in July/August.
Join the Every Bite movement here if you want to take part in the programme and/or keep up to date with news about what we are learning as we go along.