“Sometimes I just want a small one.” It is a quote by Kerri-Anne Kennerley, who has voiced her opinion on why size doesn’t matter, and it’s not what you think.
Kerri-Anne has joined Osher Gunsberg and Craig Reucassel, amongst others, to highlight the size issue. The size relates to supermarkets and their selection process when it comes to items like bananas. It has nothing at all to do with taste. Only appearance. It seems if they are not pretty enough, or if they are too small, they are rejected.
This month the ABC has been running the program called War on Waste, part of a campaign to save the thousands of food being dumped every year, because it doesn’t measure up to their standards. Hosted by Craig Reucassel (The Chaser), War on Waste is a three part documentary series you can still see on iView. As they say on the Size Doesn’t Matter promotional video for War on Waste, they still taste the same. Does size matter to you?
The waste percentages might shock you. In 2015 Jon Dee, managing director of DoSomething! which runs the FoodWise website, told Fairfax media that up to 40 per cent of produce grown in Australia could be rejected or discarded before it even gets on the supermarket shelves. A Queensland Government report from 2010 revealed that nearly a third of banana production was graded out.
Sadly, it’s not only the supermarkets who waste. The average family throws out over $3,500 worth of food a year. They also throw out one in every five bags of groceries they buy. We’ve become a throw away society and the statistics are alarming. In 1960’s Australia was considered amongst the best in the when it comes to dealing with waste. The Keep Australia Beautiful campaign that started in the late ‘60s was a huge success but the modern day statistics show waste is growing at double the rate of our population.
The war is far from over. After posting a national survey on the ABC War on Waste website, today they released the results, which shows 98 percent agree waste is an issue in Australia.
Other topics covered in the series have included plastic bags and recycling. Next Tuesday’s episode features disposable coffee cups and fashion waste. War on Waste is now looking for story suggestions for future episodes.