Celebrity chef Jax Hamilton said there needed to be more education and awareness of how much edible food waste New Zealanders produced.
“I don’t think people see throwing away the ends of bread as wasting. I don’t think they see giving bread to ducks as waste.”
There was a big environmental impact from the waste.
Ottey said biodegradable waste, including food scraps, created harmful greenhouse gases when dumped into landfills.
“If it’s going into a landfill, it’s creating methane gas and leachate, which are two chemicals that we do not want.”
Van Boheemen said New Zealand’s food waste problem was one of the worst in the world.
“The carbon emissions from food waste would be third in the world behind the carbon emissions from the US and China.”
Love Food Hate Waste created six tips for people wanting to decrease their food waste.
1. Plan meals
Van Boheemen said it didn’t take too long to plan a week of meals.
“Every time you eat food, you have to go and source yourself that food… every single one of those times there is an opportunity to only buy the amount that you need or to make smarter decisions.”
2. Write a shopping list
Shopping lists helped people to not get sucked into what Ottey called the ‘“bargain trap”.
3. Know the difference between “Best Before” and “Use By”
Ottey said they meant two different things.
“The Use By date is about food safety, the Best Before refers to when it’s freshest.”
4. Set your fridge to below 5 degrees Celsius
“Most fridges in New Zealand are too warm,” said Ottey.
5. You can freeze any food right up to its Use By date
“If you’re not going to eat it that week and you know it’s getting close, whack it in the freezer."
6. Apples should be stored in the fridge
Ottey said in the fridge, apples could last up to two weeks longer.
To people who say they don’t have time to plan their meals Ottey said there was always time to make time.
“I don’t buy that. Whether it’s from an environmental point of view or it’s about saving money everybody’s connected by food. So you just have to find something that works for you. We all have the same amount of time.”