Community
FOOD RESCUE PROGRAM
As part of our commitment to sustainability - as outlined in our Sustainability Strategy 2007-15 - we aim to achieve zero food waste by 2015, subject to the availability of appropriate receiving facilities. Our Food Rescue program is integral in helping us achieve this aim.
Food products are diverted based on rigorous 'fit for purpose' classification:
- Food suitable for human consumption
- Longlife products with damaged packaging or nearing their expiry date and no longer suitable for retail sale go to Foodbank which distributes to welfare agencies
- A combination of fresh food and longlife products go to a range of charitable organisations to be prepared as meals for disadvantaged people
- Food suitable for animal feed
- This includes fruit and vegetables from approved stores which is given to farmers or local zoos to be used as animal feed.
Foodbank
Suitable grocery items, previously sent to landfill, are now donated to Foodbank - the largest hunger-relief charity in Australia. Woolworths has formally supported Foodbank since 2002 and was recognised as the largest donor by Foodbank in September 2008 at the Australian Food and Grocery Council's annual dinner.
It works like this: Distribution Centres donate items with damaged packaging or short use-by dates that are safe but unsuitable for retail sale. Volunteers at Foodbank then sort, store and distribute the products to accredited welfare agencies, which use the food and groceries to prepare meals or distribute it in parcels for people in need.
In 2009, a new initiative for this partnership was introduced to supermarkets. 375 supermarkets now return non-saleable groceries fit for human consumption to the Distribution Centres for collection by Foodbank. The groceries are donated to Foodbank centres in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia. We continue to extend this program to more supermarkets.
Charitable organisations
In addition to donating longlife products to Foodbank, the Food Rescue Program also provides a combination of groceries and fresh products to local welfare agencies. Twenty-seven of our supermarkets are now working directly with food rescue charities Exodus Foundation, OzHarvest, FareShare and SecondBite to donate groceries as well as fresh food. Nine more are supporting soup kitchens in local communities including Karrinyup, Bunbury and Kalgoorlie in Western Australia and Ashfield, Byron Bay, Wollongong and Lismore in New South Wales.
The growth of the fresh food aspect of the food rescue program has been made possible by changes in legislation. By 2009, legislation had been passed in all states and territories, excluding the Northern Territory, to allow companies to donate food to registered charitable organisations. Woolworths has introduced strict criteria to define acceptable and non-acceptable items for donation, control the process and minimise risk.