Enrich360, founded by Yarra Valley Farms founder Bill Kollatos, creates compost and fertiliser from restaurants and catering food waste. His company utilises technology from South Korea (which has banned food waste in landfill) to reduce food waste volumes by up to 93 per cent.
In so many ways his business is an exemplar for the circular economy. It has multiple benefits – not just savings on landfill and rubbish collection but as an additive to nature.
Chief executive officer Dean Turner told The Green List that “the resulting fertiliser is one of the best ways to enrich degraded Australian soils and retain moisture”.
Today the company boasts IKEA, David Jones, The Cape Kitchen and the State Library of Victoria among its clients, to name just a few.
With more than 23 million tonnes of produce passing through Australia’s food chain each year, worth $42 billion at farmgate value and food waste actually costing the Australian economy nearly $37 billion a year, it’s no surprise there’s growth in the organic waste business.
With more than 23 million tonnes of produce passing through Australia’s food chain each year, worth $42 billion at farmgate value and food waste actually costing the Australian economy nearly $37 billion a year, it’s no surprise there’s growth in the organic waste business.
Greenlister ORG is another company seizing the opportunities to do good while doing better (for your own bottom line).
It’s hired new truck drivers and has opened a new site location to service Western Sydney.
The company is one of the leading providers of organic waste collection in Sydney and the first to receive certification under GECA’s Waste Collection Services Standard with clients ranging from tiny cafes to massive office blocks housing property firms. The company works with a number of industry peers, including fellow Single Use Plastic Pledge supporter, BioPak.
It helps clients create waste management strategies that suit their specific needs, and the aim is to “keep it as simple as we possibly can”.
Another food waste service Source Separation Systems is opening a new distribution centre in Melbourne as an operational base to manage food organics and garden organics (FOGO) projects, and Fight Food Waste Ltd has filled a number of roles recently as it continues to grow.
The City of Melbourne’s record budget, announced recently, includes a focus on waste – and over 1550 tonnes of organic waste were diverted from landfill and made into compost in the city, as part of the FOGO waste service.
If you have food waste as part of your business (and let’s face it, who of us doesn’t eat… at least something every day?) you probably need to take a good look at what’s happening to the leftovers.
If you have food waste as part of your business (and let’s face it, who of us doesn’t eat… at least something every day?) you probably need to take a good look at what’s happening to the leftovers.
There’s also action on the food cold chain sector.
Leading national food waste agency Stop Food Waste Australia (SFWA) is planning a new Australian-first plan to tackle waste in this sector with a new strategy.
The Food Cold Chain Sector Action Plan has been co-designed and developed alongside Australia’s peak cold chain body, the Australian Food Cold Chain Council. The aim is to reduce food waste across the board “from gate to plate” helping Australia towards its goal of halving its food waste by 2030.
It’s a new, more structured approach to helping small to medium-sized businesses benchmark and improve their performance towards reducing food waste.
The main focus is on developing skills, supporting innovation and raising awareness.
- You can get some insights and help on this here: Sector Action Plans
Mark Mitchell, chair of the Australian Food Cold Chain Council says the new plan supports “a high functioning, compliant cold chain which is essential for reducing food waste, increasing the productivity of Australia’s agri-food and fisheries sector”.
SFWA chief operating officer Mark Barthel says that a lot of work goes into keeping food at required temperatures as it travels across the country.
“We know that more than 23 million tonnes of produce pass along Australia’s food cold chain each year, worth $42 billion at farm gate value.
“The Food Cold Chain Sector Action Plan is a partnership between Stop Food Waste Australia and industry – it will allow us to collaborate and identify food waste ‘hotspots’ in the cold chain, while taking action to reduce their impacts, improve cold chain integrity and help industry to reduce costs.”
“The Food Cold Chain Sector Action Plan is a partnership between Stop Food Waste Australia and industry – it will allow us to collaborate and identify food waste ‘hotspots’ in the cold chain, while taking action to reduce their impacts, improve cold chain integrity and help industry to reduce costs.”
Enrich360, ORG, Single Use Plastic Pledge, GECA, and BioPak are Greenlisters, which means that their unique offerings are listed in our website directory.
Our profiles on these businesses or organisations tell their stories in a way that introduces them to potential clients and customers, reinforces loyalty from existing customers and might also help shed some light to other green businesses.
If you’re in the business of sustainability and low carbon solutions you will benefit by being in The Green List.
A big bonus is that our stories put you in front of readers at our sister site The Fifth Estate – which has 60,000 unique visitors a month across who happen to be Australia’s most engaged and influential audience in sustainability.
If you would like us to profile your business, send a note to hello@thegreenlist.com.au and ask for a media kit.
Bye for now. Get in touch if you have any interesting business news for us to report, or if you’re an existing Greenlister and want to share what you’re up to: hello@thegreenlist.com.au
– Rose Mary Petrass, your Green List curator
