Hungry for Change: Tackling Food Waste in Aged Care

Two Anglican Care facilities in Taree and Cundletown are preventing around 150kg of organic food waste from ending up in the general waste stream each week, with initial savings of approximately $750 a week from their kitchen costs, while having a positive impact on the environment.

Anglican Care’s Bishop Tyrrell Place in Cundletown has reduced the amount of food wasted by 75kg and Storm Village in Taree has achieved a food waste reduction of 79kg as a result of the free Your Business Is Food program for Residential Aged Care facilities delivered by MidWaste.

Anglican Care’s Environmental Sustainability officer Deb Matthews said reducing food waste was an important part of Anglican Care’s bigger picture sustainability initiatives which include looking at where their food comes from and the possibility of installing worm farms for green waste.

“One of the key benefits of the Your Business Is Food program has been educating and empowering our staff to come up with innovative ideas to further reduce waste,” Ms Matthews said.

MidWaste Coordinator Ali Bigg said research by the NSW Government found that 3.5kg of food waste is generated for every aged care resident in NSW each week.

“It’s not just food and money being wasted, but also the time and effort of staff, and the resources that went into growing, producing, selling and transporting the food,” Ms Bigg said.

“We know it’s important for aged care businesses to provide residents with the right amount of healthy, nutritious food while running an efficient and cost-effective kitchen. ‘Your Business Is Food’ can help aged care facilities reduce food waste, save money and help the environment.”

Anglican Care made simple changes that resulted in significant savings such as cooking toast to order rather than precooking, and reducing the production of porridge, egg dishes and soups to better meet the needs of residents.

The Your Business Is Food program involves a step-by-step guide to measure food waste and an easy action plan to make significant savings. Participants also receive one-on-one support from a food waste avoidance advisor. The tailored program addresses the unique challenges faced by the aged care sector, ensuring the health and wellbeing of residents remains the key priority.

Aged Care providers on the Mid North Coast of NSW can find out more and sign up for free by emailing info@midwaste.org.au. This project forms part of MidWaste’s Love Food Communities project and is a NSW Government Waste Less Recycle More initiative funded from the waste levy. 

Find out more about Anglican Care.

Pictured: Ramari Carter and Leanne Leach from Storm Village in Taree with resident Dolly Denton