You wouldn’t believe how much food the average Australian household wastes per year – $2,000! In New Zealand it’s NZD$1,520 per household! With staggering numbers like these, and the overall cost of living rising, now is more important than ever to really pay attention to how much food you’re throwing away and finding ways to save what you can! This will not only help your wallet, but also save our planet from the millions of greenhouse gas emissions from food in landfill (did you know that food rotting in landfill contributes to 10% of total emissions – more than flying, plastic production, and oil extraction combined?).

We asked our in-house mathematician how much food waste a single Swag could save the average household – and the results were beyond outstanding! We can proudly say that The Swag can pay for itself within the first 2 weeks of use in Australia and within 3 weeks of use in New Zealand! Read below for more information!

Australia

According to FIAL’s 2021 NFWS Feasibility Study Report, total household food waste is around 3.2 million tonnes per year, with 42% of these being fruit and vegetables. If the total food waste costs the Australian economy $36.6bn, and $19.3bn of this comes from households, this works out to be approximately $2,000 per household per year.

We’ve previously found that 42% of food waste is fruit and vegetables, so 42% of $2,000 is about $840. As there are 26 fortnights in a year, this works out to be $32.27 worth of wasted fruit and veggies per fortnight, almost 8% beyond the RRP of a Large, Long Swags and 19% more than the RRP of a Small Swag.

New Zealand

According to Love Food Hate Waste, the total household food waste in New Zealand is 157,389 tonnes per year, and approximately 41% of this is fruit and vegetables. Rabobank states that New Zealanders throw away $1,520 worth of food each year. With 41% of this being fruit and vegetables, this works out to be $623 per year, or $24.00 of wasted fruit and veggies per fortnight – a little under the the RRP of Large, Long and Small Swags. In New Zealand, a Small Swag will pay itself within its first two weeks of use while a Long and Large Swags will pay themselves in less than three weeks of use.

Conclusion