Australia throws four million tonnes of edible food into landfills every year, which then emits harmful green house gases into the atmosphere.
Last night, the Wollongong City Council hosted a Soup and Film night at Thirroul Community Centre to raise awareness about the benefits of composting in time for International Compost Awareness Week.
Promotion coordinator for Waste Management at Wollongong City Council Fiona Netting said food scraps can be composted and used to grow fruits and vegetables at home instead of going to landfill.
Berbel Franse, co-founder of Hidden Harvest serving up-scaled soup
The event was catered by local initiative Hidden Harvest, which instead of throwing out good food, creates gourmet meals with up-cycled ingredients to raise awareness about sustainability and wastage in the food industry.
Berbel Franse and Lucy Farrier are the co-founders of Hidden Harvest. They say people need only look in their pantries and be more resourceful with ingredients and leftovers to create delicious, sustainable meals.