Food Waste Flat Hacks Market
Event organisers Stephanie McLeod, Teilah Ferguson, and Hannah Morgan.
Food Waste Flat Hacks: Far From Flat
What is the best way to educate students about food waste? With a sliced bread mountain, a bicycle-powered blender and a worm farm, according to Food Waste Flat Hacks, a group from the University of Otago. Their hugely successful market was held at the Dunedin campus on the 28th of April, International Stop Food Waste Day, with around 300 people in attendance. The objective of the event was to educate students about food waste and the impact it has on the environment, and to teach them easy hacks to reduce food waste in their flats.
There were a variety of interactive stalls ran by the Food Waste Flat Hacks team, including a smoothie bike, where participants used a bicycle powered blender to cycle their way to a banana, berry and Otis oat milk smoothie; flat hack: freeze any leftover or overripe fruit and greens, and add them to a smoothie for a healthy, waste-free snack. Or people had a go at the Fridge Game, by unloading a bag of groceries into the correct storage areas of the fridge. Helpful third year food science students were on hand to redirect the most common mistakes. Flat hack: don’t keep your milk in the door, the inconsistent temperature shortens the shelf life, keep it on the top shelf instead. Impossible to miss was the bread mountain, a visual representation of the amount of food, in kilograms, the average kiwi household discards every year. This was a high stakes guessing game, with prizes from local Dunedin businesses to be won, such as Bay Road Peanut Butter, and vouchers for Market Kitchen and Beam Me Up Bagels. The answer? 86 kilograms[1].
Other groups such as Disco Soup, Otago University Nutrition Association, Food Waste Innovation Network, Upcycled Food Lab, Generation Zero and Pōpopo worm farms were also involved. The Food Waste Innovation Network used the stall to launch a new project, Student Meal Plans, a fantastic way for student flats to shop and cook. The seasonal meals are creative, healthy and delicious, with easy-to-follow shopping lists that will fit into student budgets. Flat hack: Please don’t peel your root vegetables, it’s a waste of time and nutrients. Unfortunately, some food waste is unavoidable, but it can avoid the landfill and associated carbon emissions. Composting and worm farms are a great solution, according to Finn Boyle, creator of Pōpopo Worm Farm project on campus. Flat hack: Get a compost bin or worm farm to deal with unavoidable food waste- worms can eat twice their bodyweight per day, including paper.
The event was busy and fun, with a high level of engagement from students and staff, community involvement in the form of donated prizes from local businesses, and a grant from the Dunedin City Council. Food waste is clearly a topic people feel strongly about. Communicating their message to students, as they’re just starting their households, is a tactical approach by the Food Waste Flat Hacks team. What happened to the bread mountain? Hungry students helped themselves, promising to eat the crusts. Flat hack: Keep your bread in the freezer and thaw slices as required. And remember, less waste, less warming. Follow @foodwasteflathacks for more.
References
1. Love Food Hate Waste. Top 10 Foods New Zealanders Throw Away. 2019 [cited 2021 1st May]; Available from: https://lovefoodhatewaste.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/LFHW-Top-10-Foods-Infographic-2019.pdf.