Social Innovations

Utilising 'waste regime theory,' this study explores social and discursive influences on food loss and waste in the Aotearoa New Zealand kiwifruit industry.

This report by Consumer Food Graduate Ella Zwagerman spotlights Dunedin Craft Distillers' pioneering use of surplus bread to raise awareness of food waste.

This review paper explores upcycled food's environmental, social, and economic impacts, underscoring its potential for sustainable food waste repurposing.

This article explores consumer sentiment toward upcycled beer, emphasising the environmental benefits to help inform food manufacturers about future promotional strategies.

This paper addresses global food waste, focusing on the tertiary education sector in Aotearoa, emphasizing the "Target, Measure, Act" strategy for effective change.

This paper overviews what we know about food waste at each stage of the supply chain in Aotearoa, and makes recommendations for action.

This research identified overarching critical success factors for food waste reduction practices across the food supply chain.

This Master of Arts thesis looks at the systemic dynamics of food loss and waste in the primary food production sector, through a case study of the kiwifruit industry in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Food Waste Innovation hosted the Student Showcase session at the National Food Waste Summit in September 2022. Eight postgraduate students recorded presentations about their research.

This review provides a collation of 57 academic articles across disciplines and of both English and Chinese academic literature about FL&W in China.

This visual web report presents the findings of a Social Return on Investment calculated for three food rescue organisations in Aotearoa New Zealand.

A set of recipe cards created by FOSC400 students which work together to utilise leftover ingredients from one dish in the recipe of the next.

This infographic uses lessons from kāi ora Māori to show public policy can be utilised to help to to reduce household food waste and relieve food insecurity for Māori.

This research provides recommendations to ‘upcycled food’ manufacturers and suppliers that will help improve engagement with retail product category managers. This in turn will hopefully increase the uptake of ‘upcycled food’ by retailers, thus supporting food waste reduction initiatives.

A promotional video making the connection between food waste and climate change. Created for University of Otago students.

Presentations by 10 Food Waste Innovation postgraduate and summer students on their research projects. Recorded in March 2022.

This video recorded lecture was the 2021 NZ Nutrition Society’s annual Muriel Bell Lecture given by Professor Sheila Skeaff. Sheila’s talk is a 2021 reinterpretation of the phrase “Lick your plate clean” and focuses on food choice, good nutrition and food waste.

Designed to be utlised by food rescue organisations, this resource uses learnings from the COVID-19 crisis to develop a framework for food rescue organisations to be better prepared for future disruptions.

The food waste reduction roadmap details the barriers and potential solutions to reducing food waste from farm to fork. The roadmap highlights data gaps, particularly in production, and the need for the Government to progress data collection through a food loss and waste baseline.

This resource contains eight sets of meal plans designed to feed a flat of four students five dinner meals per week. As well as recipes and shopping lists, the meal plans contain helpful information such as nutrition information, the cost per serving, and food waste reduction tips.

This research explores the perception of upcycled foods from a panel of 1001 frequent shoppers at a large grocery retailer in New Zealand.

This recording is an NZ Champions 12.3 panel discussion which took place at Food Waste Innovation’s launch event. The panel discusses food waste occurring at various stages along the New Zealand food supply chain.

This review of 28 peer-reviewed journal articles determines consumer acceptance or rejection of the two types of smart packaging technologies; active packaging and intelligent packaging.

This research looks at motivations for consumer behaviour around ‘plate waste’ in the hospitality and foodservice industry. Its findings help to inform behaviour change strategies for reducing consumer food waste in the foodservice setting.

This research found that children are much more accepting of some types of ‘ugly’ fruit and vegetables, helping to provide insight to retailers around opportunities to market these 'suboptimal' foods.

Research was conducted to measure food waste generated by New Zealand supermarkets and to understand the motivators and barriers to reducing food waste within retail operations.

This research explores eating behaviour concerning a phenomenon called the Portion-Size-Effect (PSE). Specifically, it looks at how ‘expected intake’ differs from actual intake, depending on the presentation of food using images or descriptive words during pre-meal planning.

This research establishes baseline food waste data in cafés and restaurants, assesses where food waste occurs and explores staff perceptions of the potential impacts, motivators and barriers to food waste and food waste reduction strategies.

This study examines social media users’ reactions to a ‘Clean Your Plate campaign’ on Sina Weibo, a Chinese Twitter-like microblogging site.

This research explores perceptions of the attributes of leftover food and how they lead to higher-order values related to food waste.