Funded project – Dairy Australia
This project will create Australia's first food waste action plan for our dairy sector. It will quantify volumes and composition of dairy waste and develop solutions to reduce dairy waste in processing and households, identifying new products, services and business models to establish a circular dairy sector.
Background
Food waste is a global challenge that has environmental, economic and social impacts, costing the Australian economy around $36.6 billion each year.
Dairy Australia is partnering with Stop Food Waste Australia (SFWA) and Australian Dairy Products Federation (ADPF), with support from the Dairy Manufacture Sustainability Council (DMSC) to develop a Dairy Sector Food Waste Action Plan that identifies, assesses and recommends commercial and practical food waste reduction opportunities which contribute to the dairy industry’s target to halve food waste in Victoria and nationally by 2030.
The project will develop a Dairy Sector Food Waste Action Plan by using existing methodologies such as WRAP UK’s tried and tested Whole Chain Resource Efficiency Toolkit as a guiding principle.
Objectives
The final report will include:
- Current baseline of the food waste occurring in the dairy supply chain in terms of; a) Volumes, b) Types, c) Locations, d) Costs.
- Root cause analysis as to the sources of these waste streams (why do they occur?).
- Current barriers to addressing food waste and areas where support is needed.
- A practical and commercial list of options and/or partnerships to significantly reduce food waste streams in the dairy supply chain, with a particular focus placed on waste occurring at dairy manufacturing and distribution sites.
Image courtesy of Dairy Australia.