The Healthy Hub Cafe and Wellness Centre is setting an example to hospitality businesses to reduce their food waste.
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Owners Luke and Stacey Gibson send all food and coffee waste back to their supplier of biodynamic produce who uses it in their soil.
It is a circular approach where waste from their food is put back into the soil that grows it.
READ MORE: Sharing scraps in growing compost revolution
The Victorian government has funded a new program that will encourage other hospitality businesses to embark on their own waste reduction journeys.
The Love Food Hate Waste business pilot will offer a free program with waste tracking tools, action plans and online support to help hospitality businesses take meaningful steps towards cutting food waste.
It does take more effort but it was something we needed to do for us to enjoy our job and feel happy about it.
- Stacey Gibson, The Healthy Hub Cafe and Wellness Centre
Food waste is Victoria's largest waste stream.
Sustainability Victoria data shows the average food business in Victoria throws away more than 100 kilograms of wasted food every week and more than half could have been prevented.
New research reveals 85 per cent of hospitality businesses consider food waste to be a significant issue.
At least six hospitality businesses in Ballarat and the surrounding region have signed up to be a part of the Love Food Hate Waste business pilot that starts this month, including Talbot Provedore and Eatery, Lola at the Provincial, Pub With Two Names, Olive Grove Deli, Mitchell Harris Wines and Peter Ford Catering.
Mr and Mrs Gibson said hospitality businesses had the capacity to make changes that have great impact and can set a positive example in waste reduction efforts for consumers, broader than the issue of food waste.
The couple uses compostable take away cups and containers that are made from corn starch or sugar cane, paper straws and sells no plastic bottled drinks to make the Healthy Hub Cafe plastic free.
All furniture is made from pallets and recycled timber, and the cafe offers discounts for customers who bring their own keep cup or take away containers.
Most food served in the cafe is plant-based with an awareness of the farming industry as a contributor to environmental pollution.
Mrs Gibson said hospitality businesses had a role to play in reducing waste, but the first step was knowing how to.
"When we started looking for other alternatives for packaging and looking at different ways to work in a kitchen it was challenging," she said.
"To prepare healthy food every day it costs more in wages and to buy sustainable packaging costs more money so you need to look at the bottom line. It does take more effort but it was something we needed to do for us to enjoy our job and feel happy about it."
"If it becomes the norm it will just be accepted. That drives cost down," Mr Gibson said.
No Waste Ballarat is running a Responsible Cafes campaign this April, encouraging cafes and their customers to make sustainable choices.
Rochelle Kirkham
Rochelle covers court and has a particular interest in social issues including homelessness, food security and family violence.
Rochelle covers court and has a particular interest in social issues including homelessness, food security and family violence.
