Advocate

When it comes to fighting food waste and hunger, we’re stronger together! This year, our family of purpose-driven partners has welcomed Wilson Parking, Wipro, Thermomix, Pinnacle People, Insignia Community Foundation, and IMC Foundation alongside our extraordinary Major Partners.

Twenty years of unwavering support from the Goodman Foundation has helped us reach deeper into urban communities, keep our Refettorio’s doors open, and put three new yellow vans on the road this year. Our partnership with Woolworths continues to set records – providing over 90 million meals in the past decade, with regular fresh food collections from more than 555 stores nationwide. Meanwhile, bp keeps our expanding fleet fuelled and moving, while Suncorp Bank champions food waste through their innovative ‘Food Savings Challenge’ campaign.

The power of these partnerships shone brightly during our Unite to Feed Australia Live concert, where Woolworths, bp, and Suncorp Bank helped us spotlight the critical issue of food insecurity during our 20th anniversary year. 

Collectively, our national partnerships have enabled us to provide over nearly 18 million meals to people in need this year – a testament to what’s possible when organisations unite behind a common purpose. Thank you to all our remarkable partners who make our work possible.

Thank you to all our amazing partners

OzHarvest’s advocacy efforts in 2024 set the stage for continued collaboration, community action and systemic change in tackling food insecurity and food waste in Australia. 

Connecting people to our cause is crucial and we welcomed 49 Members of Parliament to experience our impact firsthand, including jumping in our yellow vans, seeing our education programs in action and hosting an incredible Cooking for a Cause at Parliament House!  

Our voice grew stronger through strategic government advocacy, delivering tailored electorate reports and contributing nine significant submissions to shape policy change, from promoting food waste reduction in the circular economy to addressing the root causes of food insecurity. In Victoria, we rallied almost 50 charity partners to sign a joint letter addressing food insecurity and shared our community insights on the increased need, giving evidence to the State Enquiry.

Working closely with food relief sector partners Foodbank Australia and SecondBite/FareShare, we’re constantly pushing for meaningful change in food waste reduction and food security.  Our collaborative sector advocacy efforts on the National Food Donation Tax Incentive (a tax reform which could unlock 100 million meals per year), included hosting a media launch at OzHarvest HQ.

In Queensland and WA, sector aligned campaigning leads to strong engagement with State Government representatives.

This year has shown that when we combine grassroots action with policy advocacy, we can create lasting change that nourishes our country from the ground up. We kicked off community advocacy with our first petition to fight food waste, which was presented to Minister Plibersek in December, representing 26,800+ passionate community members demanding government action on food waste! 

The Use It Up campaign has evolved into a powerful force for change, with over 170,000 households worldwide now using our innovative Use It Up Tape™ to tackle food waste. This simple yet effective tool is revolutionising how families think about and manage their food at home.

Through strategic partnerships, we’ve amplified our impact across Australia. Thanks to a collaboration with NSW EPA  20,000 co-branded tapes were distributed through local council networks. 

“Many residents took the tape to try and home as it’s easy to implement, and convenient for their family.”

Hornsby Shire Council representative

The campaign gained momentum through our national partners Suncorp Bank and their customer-focused ‘Food Savings Challenge’ showing how to save both food and money. In-kind partnerships with JCDecaux and Cartology brought our message to city streets and shopping centres, making Use It Up a household name.

The campaign’s international appeal continued with the Netherlands Nutrition Centre ordered an additional 20,000 “Eerst Op” Tape for distribution through their networks, proving that good ideas know no borders.

What started as a simple tape has become a symbol of change, proving that sometimes the smallest solutions can have the biggest impact in the fight against food waste.