Project Description

KiwiHarvest is a not for profit organisation whose mission is to rescue perishable food from going to waste and distributing it to those in need in the wider community. KiwiHarvest collects food from commercial food providers that would otherwise be thrown out and delivers it to charities, refuges and food banks  where it is turned into meals.
New Zealand industry generates more than 103,000 tonnes of food waste per year, and it is estimated that 60% of food going to landfill is edible. Burying food (and often its packaging) in landfill is an environmental disaster. Not only does it needlessly contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, wasting food also means squandering the resources used to produce and transport that food, including water, land, energy, labour, and capital.
KiwiHarvest work with food businesses, including supermarkets, wholesalers, producers, cafes, restaurants, and hotels, to rescue the good food they are not able to sell – whether that is because of oversupply, damaged packaging, cancelled orders, mislabeling, or because the food is nearing its best before date or end of life.

Project Details

CLIENT

KiwiHarvest

PROJECT TYPE

Charitable Contribution

SERVICES

Service and Maintenance

At the same time, 40% of New Zealanders experience low to moderate food security, and up to 305,000 Kiwi children are living in poverty.
Food is so often the starting point for social agencies working with their clients to break the cycle of need. Having KiwiHarvest deliver rescued food allows these agencies to concentrate on tackling their core issues, and re-focus their funding on programs to help their clients. KiwiHarvest provide high quality, fresh food offering more nutrition than the canned and dry goods that charities have traditionally been able to access, filling a gap for so many who are struggling to feed themselves and their families.
The Auckland branch of the charity is located in Goodman Business Park in Ellerslie and the base includes an office made of four 20 foot containers, a warehouse made of three 40 foot containers and a fridge made out of a single 20 foot container. One of the charity’s biggest challenges is planning ahead to make food go ahead further; with around 360 tonnes of food collected around Auckland of which 70 per cent is fresh produce.
This makes refrigeration really important as anything wasted means less food for those that need it.The food it collects varies widely from passionfruit ice cream with not enough swirl, to leftover steaks from butcher events. When KiwiHarvest is given a specialty food like ricotta or aubergine they send it to a destination for a chef who can make the most of it. KiwiHarvest is powered by people who want to make a difference. This amazing team of awesome individuals are a mixture of permanent employees and volunteers whose motivation is to spread good food Karma .
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