New forklift helps OzHarvest rise to the challenge of food insecurity
Australian not-for-profit OzHarvest does important work, diverting food from landfill and delivering it to charities that help feed people in need.
In the Canberra region alone, OzHarvest collects quality excess food from over 100 food donors and delivers it, free-of-charge, to more than 70 charities.
With support from the ACT Government’s Community Zero Emissions Grants, OzHarvest has extended its Food Rescue program into new suburbs in Canberra such as Charnwood, Gungahlin and Banks.
The challenge
“Our goal is to build a healthy and resilient community whilst reducing the impact of food wastage on our environment,” said Belinda Barnier, OzHarvest’s Canberra City Manager.
“It’s staggering how much quality excess food goes to waste and, a few years ago here in Canberra, we found ourselves in a position with more potential food donors than we had capacity to handle.
“We were limited by our storage capacity and needed to invest in solutions to make the most of the available space.
“Finding diverse funding sources is critical to our mission which is why we applied for a Community Zero Emissions Grant from the ACT Government.
The action
“We used the grant funding to purchase a new pallet system, storage containers and a walkie stacker – an electric walk-behind forklift.
“The walkie stacker is a real time saver – it minimises the stresses of the handling of heavy items and improves our warehouse functionality.
“Everything is fully transportable, ensuring its versatility to help store and redistribute food now, and into the future.
“As part of our grant proposal, we also committed to monitor the expanded Food Rescue Program through data collection, to then identify and implement improvements to the expansion.
The benefit
“Within the first 18 months of purchasing the pallet system, storage containers and a walkie stacker, OzHarvest Canberra diverted 1.1 million kilograms of food waste from landfill.
“That’s an average 35,591 kilograms of food waste prevented per month – a 14% increase on what we were achieving before receiving the grant.”
In 2022 OzHarvest delivered 364,810 kilograms of nutritious food to 75 charities, allowing them to provide 729,620 meals to those in need.
“In light of the current cost of living and housing affordability pressures, the service OzHarvest provides is more important than ever.
“We are proud to contribute to a healthy, caring community while also contributing to the ACT’s zero-emissions future.”
What's next?
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Acknowledgement of Country
We acknowledge the Ngunnawal people as traditional custodians of the ACT and recognise any other people or families with connection to the lands of the ACT and region. We acknowledge and respect their continuing culture and the contribution they make to the life of this city and this region.