Merici College Green Tip #8 – Have you got leftovers?

What do you do when you have leftover food?

According to foodbank.org.au:

In Australia, 7.6 million tonnes of food is wasted every year. 

While 70% of this food is still perfectly edible, 1 in 6 Australian adults haven’t had enough to eat in the last year. 

On top of this, 1.2 million children have gone hungry during the same period.

So what should you do with leftover food?

1. If the food is kept safely, you can donate it to charities.
2. Feed it to animals as appropriate.
3. Feed it to your compost or worms.

At Merici, following the Community barbecue, the remaining food was donated to a local charity which reaches out to members of our community in need.

In doing so, not only were people in need fed, food was also diverted from landfill where it rots and produces climate warming gases.

So, what will you do when you next have leftovers after a function?

Felicity Maher
Sustainability Officer