Australia produces a whopping 7.6 million tonnes of food waste each year, but a growing push to turn this trash into treasure aims to reduce greenhouse gas and save money.
From farm animal feed to cosmetics, industries and businesses are finding innovative ways to save food waste from the dump.
Could your skincare products be made from food waste?
Australians spend billions of dollars on beauty products each year.
But the thought of using cosmetics made from food waste is a bit off-putting for avid consumers such as Mackay woman Shaye Crofts.
"It just sounds really gross," she says.
The future of cosmetics, however, could see waste winding up on our faces.
Professor Colin Barrow from Deakin University says it is an emerging market.
"There is a lot of potential value from natural materials into the cosmetic ingredient market," Professor Barrow says.
Professor Barrow is leading a research team looking at tackling Australia's food waste issue.
He says the high collagen levels in fish skin, for example, could be converted into skincare products.
But he says the public needs to get on board.
"The consumer doesn't want to hear food waste is going on their face, so there is a sort of a disconnect," he says.
"I think we have to change this whole perception of what is waste because food material is a valuable resource, whether it is used as an edible purpose or repurposed in another way."
On the front line of the war on waste
For north Queensland stockfeed producer John Lockhart, the priority is less about people and more about his animals when it comes to reducing food waste.
The concept is simple. He takes leftover produce from his local supermarket, sources grains from local growers, and turns them into stockfeed for farm animals.
The grains are grown locally as a rotational crop with sugar cane.
Mr Lockhart says it is a symbiotic relationship that stops fruit and vegetables from going into landfill.
"Landfill costs money, and also creates methane in the environment," he says.
Mr Lockhart says he turns about half a tonne of his local supermarket's fruit and vegetables into stockfeed on average every week.
It's an idea he wants to see used more broadly.
"I think it's a great shame that we don't do this on a bigger scale because there is a daily surplus of fruit and vegetables," he says.
Supermarkets committing to zero food waste
Supermarket giants Coles and Woolworths have both committed to reducing their carbon footprint.
Woolworths says it has made good progress in recent years on its goal to divert 100 per cent of food waste from landfill by 2025.
"All of our stores have a food waste partnership so that food that can't be sold still goes to good use through donation to local hunger relief charities or for animal feed," a spokesperson says.
"In April, Woolworths and OzHarvest reached a milestone of donating the equivalent of 50 million meals since the beginning of their partnership."
Coles, likewise, says the company has been repurposing and diverting its food waste.
"Our first choice for unsold edible food is to donate it to food rescue organisations such as SecondBite and Foodbank," a spokesperson says.
"Other food waste solutions include donations to farmers and animal or wildlife services, organic collections, and in-store food waste disposal equipment."
