Round two - how it went and what we learned
Food waste is on the way out now that Every Bite’s second round of programmes are complete, with communities from Kirikiriroa (Hamilton), Napier, Hastings, Palmerston North and Wānaka taking part. As with the first round, this involved a 4-week facilitated programme delivered by our Hub partners, to help New Zealand families make simple changes at home to waste less food.
Over 100 people across the motu rolled their sleeves up and found new ways to use food scraps that would otherwise have been discarded.
‘The system has been easy to use and to integrate into everyday family life,’ one participant shared.
‘The programme has been great for making us more conscious about what we are bringing into the house, and helping us plan what we eat rather than just buying things that I think we'll eat but never end up using,’ said another.
Participants have been getting the whole family involved too;
‘I love the ‘eat me first’ fridge shelf - so good to get the family’s attention. Thank you so much for this continuous encouragement.’
One Wānaka participant initially felt motivated and enthused, wanting to do everything ‘right’ but discovered that a dogmatic approach led to unsustainable overwhelm. ‘As we got going I decided to aim for honest results I could reflect on, rather than getting a 'good' result,’ she said. ‘I think my greatest learning on the journey was this moment - internalising that mantra that real change won't come from everyone being perfect, but from everyone genuinely doing a bit better.’
Most participants (70%) said that they are ‘much more’ aware of food waste as a problem after taking part in Every Bite. Many of this cohort (42%) had only just started on their food waste prevention journey. Overall, participants mentioned environmental impact (39%), food waste reduction (37%), and saving money (14%) as their main motivations for taking part. As with the initial programmes, lack of time and getting the household on board are the main barriers to overcome. Also consistent with the first round, assessing food waste was the most popular of the programme activities.
Programme launch events provided inspiration and ideas to help people get started and were key to raising awareness of the food waste problem, according to participants. Once everyone was back home, Hubs helped participants to maintain the momentum by checking in regularly by text, email or through social media.
‘It’s exciting to see what changes can happen once there is a shift in awareness,’ says Project Manager Rachel Glasier. ‘Our hubs do an incredible job of engaging and inspiring communities, as well as meeting them where they are at so they’re not overwhelmed. Our communities also clearly have a lot of knowledge as we’re seeing a lot of useful tips and tricks shared. We have taken what we’ve learned and are excited to deliver the next round of programmes shortly.’
Here are some of the great tips participants shared on preventing food waste:
‘Some fruit and veg I keep in the fridge in paper bags for freshness but I write on the bag what is in it and make sure the writing is visible when I open the drawer.’
‘As the freezer stock bag gets full, I plan a risotto meal so I can cook up the stock and use it, instead of thinking 'what do we feel like tonight?'
‘I had a whole lot of feijoas that I scraped out and put in a freezer bag and froze them. I use them for smoothies.’
‘An unwanted doughy wrap can turn into crisps or crackers.’
‘I thought I’d experiment to see how many old vegetables I can put in this curry, until it’s too much – yet it turned out to be quite amazing. I saved the vegetable peel to make vegetable stock.’
‘This week I had a red cabbage from the garden that needed to be eaten so I've added it to my last two meals, a fried rice and nachos.’
We’ll definitely be adding some of these to our own kete of enviro-friendly behaviours!
Every Bite is delivered by the Zero Waste Network and Environment Hubs Aotearoa in partnership with the Ministry for the Environment. If you’d like to take part in upcoming programmes, register your interest here. There will also be an Expression of Interest process for Year 2 delivery partners opening shortly.