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Woolworths is partnering with Goterra to send zero food waste to landfill

The project

Woolworths has committed to send zero food waste to landfill by 2025. Goterra is a key element of achieving that outcome.

In September 2020, the company started using Goterra to manage its organic waste in Australia’s capital. Goterra handles food waste produced by Woolworths’ Canberra stores that isn’t fit to be donated to hunger relief charities like OzHarvest or used for animal feed.

Achieving zero waste

A key benefit for Woolworths is that all food waste is managed regardless of packaging.

Everything gets processed and nothing is sent to landfill.

The Woolworths story

Woolworths is Australia’s largest food retailer. Alongside its food waste commitment, the company has committed to source 100% green electricity by 2025, practice responsible stewardship of natural resources, and achieve net positive carbon emissions by 2050. The company is exploring progressive solutions, such as encouraging sustainable and regenerative agricultural practices in its supply chain.

Working with Goterra is a natural fit with these ambitions. Using black soldier fly larvae to convert the waste into protein supports the journey to a more circular economy, as it produces high-quality sustainable protein and soil enhancer.

Why Woolworths chose Goterra

One of Woolworths’ guiding principles is to “apply circular thinking in everything we do”. After any usable products have been donated to human consumption (via OzHarvest) or farmers, Goterra’s circular approach ensures nutrients are retained in the economy for as long as possible. It’s the highest possible application on the waste hierarchy.

Not only does Goterra provide an innovative solution to help Woolworths close the gap on food waste, it’s also cost effective. Goterra’s gate fee is cheaper than landfill and the overall cost is highly competitive.

The food waste collection rollout

Food waste diversion isn’t possible without the support of Woolworth’s store teams.

Woolworths and Goterra worked together to design and implement a thorough induction process for stores. This ensures they had the infrastructure and training required to be successful.

Stores were provided with the appropriate bins, as well as posters and education about what is accepted in the waste organics bin. We scheduled weekly calls to review success and address shortcomings until the service was successfully embedded and operating smoothly.

The results

The service operates smoothly in every store across ACT.

Weekly waste volumes are consistent and contamination is low. The partnership recovers around 6 tonnes of organic waste each week in ACT, converting it into high quality protein, and radically reducing the impact of the waste.

We’re proud to partner with each other to accelerate the journey to a circular economy.

Next steps

Woolworths and Goterra are working together to improve organic waste recovery in other locations around Australia. Our next step is installing additional capacity in Albury Wodonga in 2021.

Partner with us

If your organisation generates organic waste, and you would like to play your part in growing the emerging circular economy in Australia, please get in touch.

Contact us