In Australia, 7.6 million tonnes of food is wasted each year, at a cost of $36.6 billion.
In South Australia, around 30% of food waste comes from households (2.5 million tonnes annually), costing the average household $2,700 per year.
Food is also wasted across manufacturing, distribution, retail, hospitality, and agriculture, with approximately 70% of wasted food still edible.
Meanwhile, many South Australians face food insecurity, with 32% of households nationally experiencing moderate to severe food insecurity in 2024.
Why it matters
Food waste contributes significantly to greenhouse gas emissions, producing methane 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide, and food sent to landfill accounts for around 3% of Australia’s emissions.
Minimising food waste in South Australia can save resources, help nourish communities, and lower greenhouse gas emissions.
Objectives for 2030
- Reduce food wasted across the supply chain, and the associated GHG emissions, and achieve the highest possible outcomes through the practical application of the food waste hierarchy
- Implement high-performing food waste collections systems that support the separation of food waste as close as possible to the point of generation
- Improve the quality of recycled organics though investment in education to reduce contamination at source and infrastructure to process output materials
- Reduce nutrient loss in food systems by ensuring the valuable nutrients recovered through the collection of segregated food waste are recycled to agricultural production
- Improve and regenerate agricultural soil function through rebuilding soil fertility and replenishing soil carbon and nutrient stocks
How we’ll get there
Avoid food waste
Minimising food waste in South Australia can be achieved by helping households use and store food efficiently, encouraging businesses to adopt waste-reducing practices, and increasing edible food donations for redistribution.
Key actions
- Consider legislative reform for unsold edible food to be donated to food rescue charities.
- Deliver co-contribution funding programs to increase infrastructure capacity of food rescue and expand social supermarkets.
- Expand messaging on food waste avoidance actions in households.
- Develop resources to support and encourage businesses to take action to avoid and reduce food waste along the supply chain.
- Explore strategies to support primary producers to achieve the highest value use of food and to minimise food waste pre-farm gate.
Increase recovery of food waste
Diverting unavoidable food waste from landfill through the use of high-performing source separation systems to recover food waste and minimise contamination, enables the production of high-quality organic outputs that can be applied to soil to regenerate nature, while avoiding greenhouse gas emissions.
Key actions
- Consider legislative reform to support mandatory source separation and collection of unpackaged organics from large food-waste-generating businesses.
- Support the rollout of area-wide, high-performing food waste collection systems.
- Provide resources to support precincts to procure segregated organics collections from businesses within significant food retail areas.
Support quality outputs and end markets
Turning food waste into recycled organic compost for application to soil can help rebuild soil fertility and replenish soil carbon and nutrient stocks. Using recycled organic compost for agricultural purposes keeps the nutrients in the economic system and improves soil structure and water holding capacity, reduces the reliance on synthetic fertilisers, and helps soils sequester greater levels of.
In South Australia, 83% of organics are diverted from landfill, generating $379 million in Gross State Product through direct and flow-on benefits. The flow-on effects of improved productivity from application of AS certified recycled organics compost and mulches contributes an additional $190 million GSP to SA’s economy.
Key actions
- Encourage and support the establishment and enhancement of resource recovery infrastructure, processes and technologies that divert food waste into productive use.
- Process segregated food waste from MSW and C&I waste streams to achieve high circularity outcomes.
- Regulate to enhance the quality of recovered organics.
- Progress the development of a consisted input material list for commercial organics collections.
- Support investment in activities that establish, build, and maintain markets for high circularity organic products, and meet quality demands of end market users.
