Australian households waste almost $20 billion a year throwing away food – the equivalent of the weight of 152 Sydney Harbor bridges – and retailers rake in more than $1 billion from this simple act.

Shocking findings from progressive think tank The Australia Institute follow the country’s grocery giants posting massive profits amid a cost-of-living crisis where Australians are struggling to keep their bills skyrocketing groceries.

In August, Woolworths announced it had posted an after-tax profit of $1.62 billion through June, up 4.6 percent from last year.

Coles also recorded a further rise of 4.8% on its 2021-22 profits, with a net profit of $1.1 billion.

Researchers from the Australia Institute found that Australian households waste 7.6 million tonnes of food every year.

For context, this is equivalent to 152 Sydney Harbor Bridges. It weighs 50,000 tonnes.

In their report, ‘Food waste in Australia and how supermarkets are profiting from it’, researchers say this food waste equates to $19.3 billion lost by families, an average of $2,000 or $25,000 per household.

“Ironically, food waste and repurchase contribute to the rising cost of living, further exacerbating these financial pressures,” the report said.

The report examines food waste data from 2018-19 as well as subsequent reports from the National Food Waste Strategy Feasibility Study commissioned by the Federal Government two years ago.

One analysis found that food retailers make an annual profit of $1.2 billion from this food waste.

“If the average profit rate across the entire sector is 6.1 percent and we assume that the $19.3 billion in food wasted by households generated this average profit, then the profit earned on the food wasted was $1.2 billion,” the report said.

“It is important to note that this $1.2 billion represents the profit made by food retailers alone from food waste.

“This does not include the income and expenses of other upstream industries such as food producers and processors when they produce food that is never consumed.”

The report attributes strict cosmetic standards on the appearance of fruits and vegetables as the reason for produce wastage.

Matt Grudnoff, senior economist at the Australia Institute, said reforms were needed to reduce food waste if Australia was to meet its target of halving food waste by 2030.

For context, this is equivalent to 152 Sydney Harbor Bridges. It weighs 50,000 tons

The report’s authors estimated it was possible to halve food waste in Australia over the next decade, with $7 billion to $7.5 billion required from federal and state governments for this to become a reality.

In 2021, Food Innovation Australia Limited (FIAL) developed a roadmap to help reduce levels of food waste in Australia, outlining possible campaigns and policy changes to reduce the amount of food wasted.

The authors of the report found it was possible to halve food waste in Australia over the next decade, with $7 billion to $7.5 billion required from federal and state governments to make this a reality.

“For every dollar spent on interventions against food waste, this scenario generates a minimum of 7 dollars in benefits for the economy,” says the FIAL report.

“This return on investment will only increase as the social cost of carbon and landfill costs increase over time.”

Mr Grudnoff said it was “high time” for the government to act on the recommendations.

“It proposes to remove expiry dates for products that do not need them, to remove expiry or shelf-life dates and to extend the expiry dates authorized for products with a long shelf life,” he said. -he declares.

“If that means reducing the profits Coles and Woolies make from food waste, well, that’s a price I think most Australians would be happy to pay.”

Both supermarket giants already have food waste policies in place, including contributing to anti-hunger programs like Foodbank and OzHarvest.

Coles’ sustainability policy says it is also repurposing products that would not typically be sold into products, such as using bananas in its own frozen banana chunks, banana bread or muffins.

“We recognize that food waste is a significant problem in Australia and support thoughtful industry reform that seeks to address the problem,” a Coles spokeswoman said.

“We are committed to working collaboratively with government and industry to advance discussions on drinking limit labeling practices. »

Both supermarket giants already have food waste policies in place, including contributing to anti-hunger programs like Foodbank and OzHarvest.

In the last fiscal year, 84 percent of the company’s landfills were diverted and an additional 20.3 million kilograms of unsold edible food, worth $133 million, that otherwise could be landfilled , were provided to its food support programs.

Woolworths’ policies include promoting The Odd Bunch range to sell food and vegetables that do not meet their display standards.

The company also says it will invest $123 million over the next 10 years to find ways to reduce food waste.

“We are working hard to reduce food waste, with our supermarket teams preventing more than 80% of food waste from going to landfill. Not only is it good for our customers and the environment, it’s also good for business,” a Woolworths spokesperson said.

“Each year, expiration and expiration dates alone cost our business tens of millions of dollars in food that cannot be sold. We are therefore incentivized to increase the shelf life of products in our supply chain where possible.

“By-by dates play an important role in food safety and can reduce food waste by helping customers use food before it becomes inedible. So it’s important that food manufacturers do these things right. »

The company donated 28 million meals of surplus food to Australian hunger charities in the last financial year.