Josephine Buckman

Food waste is a global issue, the scale of the issue is large with an estimated one-third of food produced going to waste. Reducing Food waste represents an opportunity to improve economic, environmental and food security outcomes. In developed countries, most of the food waste occurs at the household level. Household food waste is a large and complex problem in Australia as not all Australian households waste food at the same rate or for the same reasons. The focus of the proposal is to produce actionable consumer insights about and propose strategies for specific socio-demographic household segments to support efforts by Woolworths in reducing Australian household food waste.

To date, published consumer insights targeting shopper segments of interets does not exist in Australia and the research will build on existing Australian household food waste knowledge. Reducing food waste in Australia has benefits to the environment; 92% of the 2.5 million tonnes of food waste generated by Australian households ends up in landfill and contributes 7.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually[12]as well as methane, which is 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide. This study may uncover effective strategies to help reduce this burden. Food waste reduction also has a benefit to households themselves who are estimated to spend two billion dollars annually on food they buy but don't consume. There are also social implications in relation to food security; food wastage is at odds with the 1 in 5 Australians who have faced food insecurity in the past 12 months. Finally, this research can help demonstrate the impact of public -private partnerships in the area of food waste reduction and may provide examples for other retailers to follow, thus amplifying the impact.

Woolworths Group Limited

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