Funded project – Developing a Dairy Sector Food Waste Action Plan
Delivering Australia's first food waste action plan for the dairy sector, this project focused on quantifying the volume and composition of dairy waste while developing effective solutions to minimise waste in processing and households. Through this initiative, innovative products, services, and business models have been identified to foster the establishment of a circular dairy sector.
Background
Food waste poses a global challenge, with significant environmental, economic, and social consequences. In Australia alone, it costs the economy approximately $36.6 billion annually.
To address this issue, Dairy Australia had partnered with Stop Food Waste Australia (SFWA) and the Australian Dairy Products Federation (ADPF), with support from the Dairy Manufacture Sustainability Council (DMSC).
Collectively and collaboratively, they worked on the development of a Dairy Sector Food Waste Action Plan. This plan has identified, assessed, and recommend practical and commercially viable opportunities to reduce food waste within the dairy industry.
The project has leveraged already established methodologies, such as the Whole Chain Resource Efficiency Toolkit by WRAP UK to support the development of the plan.
Objectives
The objectives of the project were to:
- Improve industry understanding of, and increase transparency towards, food waste occurring along the dairy supply chain.
- Promote cross industry collaboration towards food waste reduction across the entire dairy supply chain including farmers, dairy manufacturers, distributors, retailers and industry partners.
- Identify practical and commercially realistic initiatives to address food waste across the dairy supply chain.
Process
Assessment of current context: The project team conducted a literature and data review to establish the current state of dairy food waste in Australia and internationally. This step is crucial in defining clear and attainable actions.
Developing dairy food waste account: Using various data sources, including primary data, the team developed a comprehensive bottom-up account of dairy food waste and estimates of food loss and waste across the dairy supply chain. Interviews with representatives from different sectors of the dairy supply chain were useful to gather such information. The analysis identified food waste hotspots in farms, manufacturing processes, distribution, retail, and hospitality, as well as households.
Root cause analysis: In June 2022, a Dairy Food Waste Manufacturers Workshop facilitated the discussion of key findings and understanding of underlying causes of food waste in the sector. Interviews with representatives from various sectors of the dairy supply chain helped identify potential root causes and drivers of dairy food waste.
Identify and prioritize actions: In August 2022, a Food Waste Action Plan review and discussion took place to examine the key findings and propose potential solutions to manufacturers. The focus was on emerging technologies and best practices to address the issue.
In May 2023, during a workshop, relevant stakeholders discussed the action plan and determined the subsequent steps. These workshops were instrumental in enhancing understanding and awareness of the issue, with several key stakeholders participating in multiple events.
Challenges
Developing the food waste account
- The account relied on data collection from various third parties, including retailers and manufacturers. Collecting this data was challenging because it had not been done before in the industry.
- New templates for data collection had to be created, and industry participants had to collect and report the information across multiple sites.
- Coordinating access to data across 3 to 15 dairy processing sites was necessary and ensuring that site leads understood the reporting format was important.
Data sensitivity
- The collection of food waste data from participants was sensitive, requiring confidentiality agreements. Execution of these agreements took several weeks or months with extensive back and forth between legal teams.
- The delay caused by obtaining confidentiality agreements was a significant challenge for the project. With the agreements in place, future data collection is expected to be faster.
Rapidly changing market and operating conditions
- The dairy industry faced challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic, supply shortages, and adverse weather events.
- The manufacturing sector, facing competing priorities, experienced delays in providing data to the project. These delays affected the project milestones, including data verification and engagement with industry.
- Stakeholder communication and milestone extensions helped overcome the challenge.
Insights
- The project has contributed to the dairy industry's goal of halving food waste by 2030.
- Established the first Dairy food waste account, detailing food waste across the supply chain.
- Utilised the Dairy Manufacturers Sustainability Council (DMSC) to identify solutions for the leading causes of food waste.
- High participation levels and strong industry endorsement demonstrate commitment to collaborative work in an area previously not well-understood.
- Increased capacity to address food waste and drive positive outcomes in the industry.
Outcomes and impact
The action plan identified and assessed 10 circular solutions that can be implemented to minimise dairy food waste across the supply chain. The actions identified were spread throughout the entire dairy supply chain, rather than focusing on individual organisations.
Six actions were related to the manufacturing sector, 2 actions were for the distribution and retail sector while the remaining 2 actions were for the food service and household sector.
The Dairy Food Waste Action Plan was officially launched in June 2023. Collectively and collaboratively, the action plan sets the Australian dairy industry up for success. It has been delivered in partnership with the Australian Dairy Products Federation and Stop Food Waste Australia, with support from the Dairy Manufacturers Sustainability Council.
What’s next?
- Dairy Australia will continue to support the dairy industry in adopting practices that reduce process waste in dairy manufacturing.
- Increase awareness and distribution of edible dairy food to the food rescue sector. Develop behavioural change programs to help households reduce dairy food waste.
- Promote improved dairy product labelling to minimize food waste with hopes to conduct further research and development to extend the shelf life of dairy products.
- Evaluate technology platforms to optimise dairy food usage for human consumption and maintain product value.
- Trial technology solutions for converting dairy process waste into animal feed (subject to funding).
- Explore solutions for dairy industrial wastewater systems and whey processing.
- Foster cross-industry collaboration and maintain ongoing communication and support from dairy industry organisations, the food rescue sector, and government to effectively deliver solutions and achieve the 2030 target of halving Australia's food waste.
Image courtesy of Dairy Australia. -
Food waste action plan video
Visual summary
The video shows 3 people talking about the Dairy Sector Food Waste Action Plan which is designed to reduce food waste across the industry.
The main speakers in the video are:
- David Nation, Managing Director, Dairy Australia
- Mark Barthel, Chief Operating Officer, Stop Food Waste Australia
- Janine Waller, Executive Director, Australian Dairy Products Federation
Text
[Opening visual of video with text saying ‘Dairy Sector Food Waste Action Plan’]
David: Here at Dairy Australia we are committed to sustaining a high level of trust between consumers and the dairy industry. This means always being open to do things better. One program I'm keen to share with you is the Dairy Food Waste Action Plan, a collaborative program that will provide a clear, commercially viable pathway for better handling food waste across the entire dairy supply chain.
Mark: Did you know that food waste costs the Australian economy a staggering $36 billion each year, although it costs dairy manufacturers around 700 million each year just to manage food waste with an additional $120 million of revenue lost from wasted finished products. And it's not only the economic burden, but it's also a major environmental and social issue.Janine: The sustainability and environmental welfare is a priority for dairy businesses, whether it's farm, whether it's manufacturing and this includes waste reduction. By developing the Dairy Food Waste Action Plan, we've gained unique insights into where, what and how much food waste is actually occurring along the dairy supply chain. And this is really important if we think about the challenging environment that we're operating in, food inflation and declining more milk pool. Together, we've identified 10 key actions to reduce waste and contribute to our national targets. Some of these are shorter term and some are longer term. The priority actions include investing in R&D and technology. It's about effective inventory management so that we can monitor and report on waste. We've got partnering with our food rescue organisations promoting sustainable packaging solutions and importantly about educating the consumer through labelling and storage advice. And these are all behavioural changes across the supply chain.
Mark: Studies show that just the 1% reduction in food waste can result in savings of up to 10 million every year for dairy manufacturers. By effectively preventing and managing dairy food waste, we can reduce associated greenhouse gas emissions by up to 20%. One fifth.
David: The work doesn't stop here. In fact, it's really just starting. Our commitments will now be followed by actions and Dairy Australia will keep working to bring all parts of the dairy industry together and support our efforts to reduce food waste. It's a great time to be involved in the dairy industry and a great ambition to have food waste. Let's get cracking.
[End of Transcript]