Newcastle’s only food rescue charity, OzHarvest, will feed Novocastrians a free “rescued” meal at Wheeler Place on Monday, 25 July from 11.30am – 2.30pm at the fourth annual Think.Eat.Save event partnered with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). 

Members of the public will enjoy two delicious wintery soups made from “rescued” produce and yummy muffins for dessert made from banana’s that just didn’t make the cut!  Woolworths will be giving away healthy and delicious fruit from their Odd Bunch range.

Hear from a live panel discussion of food industry experts including Amorelle Dempster, Chef & Slow Food Hunter Valley Leader, Mark Brown from Purple Pear Farm, Emma Grezl, Regional Waste Project Officer from Hunter Councils and OzHarvest Newcastle Manager, Monique Maguire on food waste, food security and sustainability, and learn some food saving tips.

Think.Eat.Save events taking place nationwide, will see some of the nation’s top chefs, business leaders, politicians and celebrities unite to address the urgent issue of food waste, which is currently costing Australians up to $8 billion each year.

As the official partner of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), OzHarvest is urging Australians to take action on food waste.

Founder and CEO of OzHarvest, Ronni Kahn, said the aim of Think.Eat.Save 2016 is to bring attention to the alarming amount of food wasted in Australia and around the world, where roughly one third of food produced for human consumption (approx. 1.3 billion tonnes) is wasted or lost along the way.

“The current global and local food waste statistics are alarming,” Ms Kahn said. “We urgently need change to happen now to ensure a sustainable food system for future generations. This year at Think.Eat.Save we are urging Australians to make a dish using their leftovers, giving life to food that would otherwise have been wasted.

“These small efforts to reduce food waste create positive change and inspire others to take action about the urgent issue of food waste and food security.”

Members of the public are encouraged to get involved by making a personal pledge to change their eating behaviour and reduce food waste via the #PledgeAPlate campaign. You can pledge a plate by making a meal out of leftovers, rescued or saved ingredients, taking a photo and uploading it on social media with the hashtag #PledgeAPlate and fundraise via www.pledgeaplate.com.

To mark the national Australian campaign to reduce food waste, OzHarvest will host 11 events across the country, feeding over 15,000 thousand people a free, delicious and hearty hot meal made from rescued produce and educating people about reducing food waste.

#PledgeAPlate Campaign Toolkits are available from July 25 at www.pledgeaplate.com for businesses and schools to take action and get involved in the Think.Eat.Save campaign.

The national food waste reduction campaign is supported by Woolworths and Glad.

The Newcastle Think.Eat.Save event is supported by the City of Newcastle.

NATIONAL THINK.EAT.SAVE PUBLIC EVENTS

DATE & TIME: Monday, 25 July from 11.30am – 2.30pm (major cities)

CLICK HERE FOR FULL LOCATION LIST

Sydney event: Martin Place, Sydney

Adelaide event: The University of Adelaide Goodman Lawns, North Terrace

Brisbane event: St Stephen’s Cathedral, Brisbane

Canberra event: Garema Place

Gold Coast event: The 4217, 10 Beach Road, Surfers Paradise

Melbourne event: The State Library of Victoria, Melbourne

Newcastle event: Wheeler Place, Newcastle

Perth event: Forrest Place, Perth CBD

Regional Areas: Cairns, Sapphire Coast, Armidale

For a full list of events and more information, please visit www.ozharvest.org

Social media tags: @ozharvest @UNEP #thinkeatsave #pledgeaplate