Boost for Lighthouse food rescue program

Published 11:00am 20 March 2023

Deception Bay’s Lighthouse Centre is one of 10 Queensland food rescue projects to share in almost $3 million in State Government funding.

The $104,260 earmarked for the centre as part of round two of the government’s Food Rescue Grant Program will be used to buy a refrigerated truck, allowing Lighthouse to expand transport capacity and to increase its food rescue effort by between 30 and 50 percent.

The Lighthouse Centre estimates that by June next year, about 343 tonnes of food will be saved from landfill and delivered to people in need as a direct result of the funding.

Premier Anastacia Palaszczuk says the funding for the 10 projects will deliver almost six million meals for people in need and divert 2933 tonnes of useable food from landfill.

“It’s no secret that cost-of-living pressures have an impact on the household budget and that includes at the dinner table,” she says

“More than three million tonnes of edible good food – food that could better go to vulnerable Queenslanders - is sent to the tip each year.”

In addition to rescuing food, the 10 projects will create more than 13 full time equivalent jobs.

Environment and Science Minister Meaghan Scanlon says every meal created by the organisations equates to 0.5kg of rescued food.

Saving food, creating meals

“With this funding, we’ll be able to create an estimated 5.97 million meals for Queenslanders in need,” Ms Scanlon says.

“The projects we’ve been able to fund will provide benefits for many years, with equipment like refrigerated trucks and new cold rooms helping to rescue, store and distribute food well into the future.

|“The work these organisations do saves perfectly good food from landfill.”|

Ms Scanlon says the government’s Queensland Organics Strategy will halve the amount of food waste generated in Queensland by 2030.

“We will divert 80 percent of food-related organic material from landfill; and we will achieve a minimum organics recycling rate of 70 percent,” she says.

“Cost of living pressures are being felt across the world…and these grants will make sure good food can go to those in need, while also helping to tackle some of the harmful emissions food waste produces.”