Sustainability & Food and Fashion

Food waste facts: Approximately 8 to 10 billion dollars of food is wasted each year in

commercial and residential waste. That’s around four million tonnes of food that ends up as landfill.

Roughly one third of the food produced in the world for human consumption every year — approximately 1.3 billion tonnes — gets lost or wasted

Every year, consumers in rich countries waste almost as much food (222 million tonnes) as the entire net food production of sub-Saharan Africa (230 million tonnes)

Australians throw out one out of every five shopping bags, which equates to every Australian household throwing out $1,036 worth of groceries each year.

Australia produces enough food to feed approx. 60 million people, yet two million people still rely on food relief every year.

Food relief agencies are not able to meet demand. Nearly 90% of agencies reported not having enough food to meet total demand. 6 in 10 agencies require at least 25% more food with almost 3 in 10 agencies requiring double the food. [6]

Nearly one million Aussie kids go without breakfast or bed without dinner

Food Waste Facts

Recycle surplus food- OzHarvest is the first perishable food rescue organisation in Australia collecting quality excess food from commercial outlets and delivering it, direct and free of charge, to 600 charities providing much needed assistance to vulnerable men, women and children across Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Gold Coast, Melbourne, Newcastle and Perth.

The Civil Liabilities Amendment Act was passed in NSW in 2005 with ACT, SA and QLD following. This ensured surplus food could be donated to charitable causes without fear of liability.

Do a meal plan for the week and only buy what you need. Look at what food you throw out and buy less of that product. Make a compost or have a chook or poultry farm to recycle

organic food waste.

How can we reduce food waste ?

The fastest-growing household waste in Australia is clothing, according to a Council of Textile and Fashion Industries of Australia which said Australians spent $500 million of fashion clothing to the tip in 2013. It suggested this waste could be reduced if we removed spills quickly using baby wipes or sloshing with water to stop stains setting. And it said if we are like other Western countries, we only recycle 18 per cent of clothing compared to 55 per cent of paper and 63 per cent of metal. 

Fashion Waste Facts

Sustainability is the condition which humans and nature can exist in productive agreement and maintain health and resources in an environment for long term use. For example:

care for soils and keep them fertile keep a sufficient quantity and quality of water for future generations

If we are sustainable, it will be possible to fulfil the social and economic needs of future generations Sustainability is essential because it will protect human and environmental health as we will have water, materials and resources for future generations

What is Sustainability?

Reduce electricity by:- Turn lights off when you leave a room.

Turning off power points and appliances at night.

Put insulation in when building your home.

Use halogen or low energy light globes.

Use solar energy for heating and electricity instead of fossil fuel electricity.

When buying appliances, buy low energy use appliances.

Plant trees in places that will help cool the house in summer and will not stop the sun from shining in in winter.

Use less energy reducing electricity use, turn off power points at night, turn

light/appliances off when you leave, put it insulation, use halogen/low energy light bulbs,

buy low energy use appliances, reduce water use Make compost Use less chemicals Move closer to work, or work at home when possible. Commuting

accounts for more than a third of all car travel.

How can we be sustainable at home?