Every year 2.5 million tonnes of produce passes through the Flemington markets; yet 25,000 tonnes of this will never reach people's plates. For various reasons, some of the fruit and vegetables arriving at the market will be unsuitable for sale, but rather than throw this fresh produce away, it is being recycled and given a new life.
Just a short drive down the road from the Flemington site these scraps will become part of pungent food waste cocktail, creating enough biogas to power 247 homes and produce up to 1200 tonnes of fertiliser every year, in a closed-loop facility.
"This operation occurs seven days a week. We have a strategy in place," said Con Kapellos, Sydney Markets environmental manager.
"The strategy is obviously to try to divert as many resources as we can out of the waste stream and recycle them as soon as possible."
Recycling operations at the markets are an attempt to address the four million tonnes of food which end up in Australian landfill each year.
In their goal to become "the greenest market in Australia", Sydney Markets paired with environmental solution organisation Veolia in 2005, collaborating on new ways to handle delivery and collection, recycling and daily site clean-ups.
One of the most significant strategies has been the sending of waste to the Veolia Earthpower facility, where discarded fruits and vegetables are churned up to generate power to be put back into the grid.
Earthpower general manager David Clark said the process still gives him "a buzz". "The thought that the raw energy of the food can be converted to biogas, which microbes eat...and that goes to the wires...and that generate and create electricity," he said.
The "innovative" process of pulping food to create energy is "so similar" to the digestive system of a cow, Mr Clark added.
The $50 million facility also takes waste from various cafes and restaurants, Coles and Woolworths; often accepting drops of recalled food products as well as spoiled produce.
Australia's first perishable food rescue organisation OzHarvest began its operations in 2004. Since its inception it has delivered more than 46 million meals to people in need, the equivalent of 16 million kilos of food rescued from supermarkets, restaurants, hotels, catering companies and farms, as well as Sydney Markets.
OzHarvest spokeswoman Louise Tran said more needed to be done to make consumers aware of the "startling statistics".
"Approximately $1036 of food is wasted on average in each household per year, when you add it all up that's $8 billion dollars of food waste in Australia - going straight to landfill. It's the equivalent of four million tonnes of food wasted each year in Australia alone."
She said legislation in 2005 allowing food donors to donate surplus food "without fear of liability" was a huge step forward in changing behaviour.
"There is nothing wrong with a wiggly carrot, an odd shaped pear, a blemished apple or even a bruised banana. There is still a lot of education to be done...but we are trying to arm people with tools and tips to help them reduce food waste at home, to make a real impact."
Source: The Sydney Morning Herald/illawarramercury.com.au
