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Oz Harvest

Updated March 01, 2010 12:26:00

Stateline goes on the road with Oz Harvest, saving food bound for the bin and donating it to those in need.

Source: 7.30 ACT | Duration: 5min 58sec


CATHERINE GARRETT, PRESENTER: Despite the city's growing rubbish problems, there is one good news story.

Oz Harvest is a service that rescues food bound for the bin and donates it to charity. A success in Sydney, the Canberra operation was a test case to see if the concept could work in other places. Well, the response has been remarkable. In less than two years, the service already collected and donated more than 300,000 meals. We went on the road with coordinator Dave Burnet.

DAVE BURNET, OZ HARVEST CANBERRA CO-ORDINATOR: We've got some grapes and a few bananas and corn.


DAVE BURNET: You just never know, one day it can be 300 kilos. The next day it can be 1300 kilos. The funny thing is that on the days when we get 300 kilos the volunteers and crews say a pretty quiet day today, not a whole lot. And I remind that this time last year or 18 months ago if we got 75 kilos in a day we were pretty happy. No it's 750. We're doing OK.

It's heart warming for me to feel that support when I suppose in the early days of trying to get it established I felt like a funny man running around in a yellow shirt and thinking, what have I done, what have I got myself in for here. To knowing now I am so proud to wear this shirt and so are my volunteers and crew.

It's pretty simple really. We rescue food that would otherwise end up at landfill or at the tip.

Shoulder ham, I can't believe that. Pizzas. Turkish breads. We've got salads, we've got pasta bakes.

A whole range of things here.

We've got plums,drinks. Prepared salads and it's all been in the cool room, it's beautiful.

That food comes from retailers, corporate function centres, supermarkets and cafes, places like that, the AIS in Canberra, convention centre.

You know, it's a very wide range of food and it's all good food that is still within date and has a very high nutritional value.

This is another one that you know one of the many that we pick up from around here. It started out he used to give the food away, I think here and there to people. Heard about us and started handing over the pies and the good stuff.

CHRIS KIMBALL, REPORTER: Why did you get involved, Chris?

CHRIS HAYNE, SMALL BUSINESS OWNER: Oh mate it's a good charity, it's better than turfing it all out. At least it's going to people that can use it.

JODI ROLDAN, SMALL BUSINESS OWNER: We came on board with Oz Harvest we were one of the first businesses to come on board. But I mean you know I don't like to see anybody out here thats sort of disadvantaged, so if we can help we will and we donate whatever we've got left over cause otherwise it's just going to go in the bin.

DAVE BURNET: Thats for you.

JODI ROLDAN: Thanking you. Here we are.

DAVE BURNET: Can you take those over to (inaudible)...

We deliver to agencies that care for people and we will deliver large amounts or whatever they need and they then distribute that to the people that they see need it.

If you want to take that load in, maybe get another trolley.

Are you happy to take some we've got more fruit, muffins, stuff like that?

OZ HARVEST CLIENT: That would be great.

DAVE BURNET: A lot of people benefit it from now I mean there'd have to be at least I'd say 8,000 people in the Canberra and Queanbeyan area who in the course of a week would benefit from our service in one way or another.

VOLUNTEER: A lot of the bread will go to our breakfast clubs which we run in seven schools across Canberra. Some of the other fresh fruit and vegies will go to a road house a free food program that operate out of (inaudible) centre. Plus we have a number of refugee and asylum seeker families that we provide some food hampers to with the goods that these guys donate

PENNY JACKSON, RED CROSS MEAL ON WHEELS: They love it. It's food that they normally wouldn't be able to eat because it is so fresh and healthy. And we're really teaching them this is the way they should seat and we're able to provide it to them.

DAVID BURNET: Are we taking all this?


DAVID BURNET: Have you still got plenty there for (inaudible) and Corinya and all that?

MAUREEN CANE, CEO COMMUNITIES AT WORK: Oz Harvest got started because I heard Ronni Kahn, whose the founder of Oz Harvest in Sydney talk about it on the radio one morning. And I heard what she had to say. I thought it was a wonderful, practical way where people could be help and I wanted it here in Canberra. And I am so glad that it is here now.

DAVID BURNET: I think it's an essential service here now, to be honest.

And the figures prove the amount of food that we get and the letters we get from charities saying that they would fail to operate if we didn't arrive.

At the moment we've got about 22 volunteers. They come from a range of occupations and whatever. There's people who are former nurses, bus drivers, doctors. There's tax consultants and a lot of young people as well.

CHRIS KIMBALL: Should governments kick in a little bit more to support these sorts of services?

MAUREEN CANE: We might like to think that they'd look at that sympathetically. Especially since we are preventing so much food going into landfill.

DAVE BURNET: It has surprised me the level of support and it's a little frightening really too, none of us want to let anybody down but we are flat out and we just got our second van but there are times I think we need a semitrailer. It's fabulous.

CATHERINE GARRETT: And Chris Kimball produced that story.