Australia
Repurposing rescued food to create delicious meals
Aspen Australia once again enthusiastically partnered with OzHarvest in support of Mandela Day.
Almost 30 Aspen volunteers participated in OzHarvest’s Cooking for a Cause event across Victoria and New South Wales. This was also a great opportunity for some of our newer team members to experience the joy of volunteering for the first time.
OzHarvest, Australia’s leading food rescue organisation, was established in 2004 after noticing the huge volume of food going to waste. They use donated and rescued food (that would otherwise end up in landfill) to create delicious meals that are delivered to hundreds of charities nationwide.
We were briefed about the ongoing food crisis and the statistics surrounding food insecurity in Australia. We learnt that local households create around 300kg of wasted food annually. That’s 300kg of potentially useable food that could feed the hungry, but which becomes landfill each year.
Lilian Chui, from our St Leonard’s, Sydney office, was excited that there was such a large number of participants at the Mandela Day event year. She said,
“We had a really fun-filled morning cooking alongside colleagues from various departments and it was amazing to see (and taste) the restaurant quality of the food we made. A morning well spent, contributing to a great cause and a timely reminder about food waste!”
OzHarvest are committed to halving food waste by 2030 while inspiring and influencing others to do the same and transforming lives through education.
In Melbourne, the team chopped, diced and sliced, making almost 80 portions of delicious and nourishing meals for people in need. These meals were delivered to one of the 110 charity agencies OzHarvest service in Melbourne.
Lindsey Doolin, from our Dandenong office, said that the statistics the team learned along the way were truly eye-opening. “Interestingly, a lot of the ‘left-over’ food in supermarkets is organic produce. As it’s more expensive, it isn’t purchased but is collected by OzHarvest and prepared into yummy meals. Pretty incredible really, but nice to know we’ve contributed to the difference that OzHarvest is making every day!”
The Aspen Australia team is always inspired when working alongside OzHarvest and will continue to participate in their community work in the future.
