This episode features our CEO check-in with Dr. Steven Lapidge, of End Food Waste Australia. Dr Lapidge shared insights and highlights from the 2024 National Food Waste Summit held in Melbourne, detailing key actions and takeaways for combating food waste. With over 300 people who attended the event, including international guests, Steve shares his top 10 takeaway messages from the conference. These include:

1. The 16-page 2024 to 2030 strategic business plan. Find out more at https://endfoodwaste.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/EFWA-Strategic-Business-2024-2030.pdf
2. Food donation tax incentives which have recently been introduced to the Australian senate, as talked about by Brianna Casey from Foodbank Australia. Information available at https://www.foodbank.org.au/ and https://endfoodwaste.com.au/media-release-revolutionary-national-food-donation-tax-incentive-introduced-to-australian-parliament/
3. Target, Measure and Act. A mantra to live by to assist in the reduction of food waste.
4. Mandatory food waste reporting as spoken about by Jolanda Dings from Lamb Western EMEA, see https://lambweston.eu/emea.
5. Edwina Beveridge from Blantyre Farms, who operates the first piggery to be certified under the Renewable Energy Target with an accredited biogas electricity generation system sourced from agricultural waste.
6. The on-the-job PhD program with KPMG and Central Queensland University, as heard in episode 13 and the students who are currently within the program. Listen to our recent episode here https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/honey-and-fox/episodes/S2E13a-Beyond-Academia-with-Tangerine-Holt--Olav-Muurlink--Hannah-Churton-and-Stephanie-Bayancela-e2mmevj and find out more about the program at https://endfoodwaste.com.au/research-and-development/industry-phd-program/
7. Discussion about the implementation of the Nationwide Consumer Behaviour Change Campaign.
8. Encouraging teamwork and collaboration with participants across the summit.
9. How none of us can do it alone with Ian Opperman stating we don’t get anywhere if we don’t care.
10. Celebrations of contributions to reducing food waste with the inaugural Food Waste Action Awards. Winners included:

• Sodexo who collected the Industry Impact Award.
• Australian Institute of Packaging and RMIT University with the collaboration award.
• Mark Boulet of Monash University gained the Research Award.
• Simplot with the Foodbank Australia Award.

Congratulations to End Food Waste Australia for another successful summit. We look forward to supporting and hearing more about future incentives and involvement in fighting the fight against food waste.

This podcast is brought to you by Honey & Fox, whose passion is food and the people who produce it. Honey & Fox works with fishers, farmers and small food businesses to help them find and sell to their perfect customers – people who will buy without questioning the price. Find out more at www.honeyandfox.com.au.

This podcast is supported by End Food Waste Australia, which is leading impactful and research-informed food waste actions. To learn more about how they are working toward a more sustainable future, please visit ⁠www.endfoodwaste.com.au⁠.