The pandemic’s economic aftershocks coupled with rising costs of living, and natural disasters has made the issue of food insecurity worse than ever before. Each day, over half a million Australian households in Australia go hungry, with those with children are being hardest hit.

Transforming our food systems to increase its widespread availability and access to food requires shifting towards sustainable patterns of consumption. This is an ethical imperative essential to our planet’s survival.

Established in 2004, OzHarvest is an Australian nonprofit organisation on a mission to fight food waste and food insecurity. They do so by rescuing surplus food from restaurants, food wholesalers and retailers to deliver it to vulnerable Australians.

Worn for Good and OzHarvest alike, are committed to providing meaningful solutions to issues of waste in our world, whether that be through food or clothing. Together, we wish to enact a fundamental, system-wide reorganisation and pioneer the transition towards a

circular economy. As such, we are committed to supporting OzHarvest in their mission to halve food waste by 2030 and build a sustainable food culture where everyone can access a fresh, nutritious meal.

We want to share with you some details of the impact each of your purchases have in nourishing our beautiful country, both through reducing food waste and feeding people in need amongst our community.

1. Relieving food insecurity

According to the Food Hunger Report, the rising cost of living is most common reason that food insecurity is worse than ever before.

Using their 15 van-fleet, OzHarvest deliver 441,500 meals per month across major cities, including Sydney, Newcastle, Adelaide and Brisbane. Additionally, OzHarvest reports that throughout their network of recipient charities, 30% of the people seeking support are doing so for the first time.

2. Waste reduction

Food going into landfill is a huge contributor to dangerous greenhouse gas emissions, with 10% of all emissions impacting climate change coming from food waste. In Australia alone, 7.6 million tonnes of food is wasted every year - destroying our environment and costing the economy $36.6 billion annually.

Every meal delivered by OzHarvest ensures that high quality, fresh food is diverted from landfill and into the mouths of people in need. Driven by a ‘yellow army’ of passionate volunteers, their vans rescue high quality, fresh produce that would otherwise be left to rot in landfill. They also prioritise educational programs designed to empower Australians to pursue food waste reduction strategies.

Amidst a world of waste and excess, we thank you for supporting WFG by using your purchasing power to better our world, both environmentally and in our community.

Beautiful words by: Maela Kornhauser.