The Free Store Project: Waste Forecasting

The Free Store Project explores the viability of creating sustainable long-term food redistribution networks. Moving well beyond traditional models of corporate responsibility and charitable ‘gift giving’ the Free Store attempts to addressing the growing disparity between the commercial imperatives that drive food waste and the dilemma of food security.

Background

The Free Store project was first undertaken as part of the Letting Space series in May 2010, and functioned as a pop up free grocery store, opening on Ghuznee Street in downtown Wellington for two weeks. The Free Store attracted hundreds of visitors to the store daily and over the course of the two week re- redistributed hundreds of kilos of food from Wellington food retailers and producers.

In early 2011 the newly established Auckland Council commissioned a Free Store project for Waitakere. This project was the first of its kind for the Council in its collaborative approach and was managed by staff from Arts and Community Well Being teams within Auckland Council. The project in Auckland ran for one month and involved extensive community consultation and engagement. Building on the Wellington experience, significant supply agreements were established with over 40 major food retailers and producers from within the Auckland region. Demand from the community was overwhelming and the project received wide-ranging coverage from mainstream media and was the direct catalyst for debate in parliament regarding poverty and food security in New Zealand.

Since the Auckland trial the Auckland Council has approved funding towards an extended two year Free Store project in West Auckland, rebranded as Fair Food the project is now up and running.

Project overview

The Free Store project focuses on distribution rather than production as key to the complex solution to dealing with food waste and food security. The Free Store project for T.E.Z.A proposes an alternate model to counter the major inefficiencies that exist within commercial supply chains prohibiting businesses to undertake effective waste management. These inefficiencies are compounded by a ‘food bank’ mentality where the movement of waste goods via ‘donation’ or landfill wastage is seen as existing outside of the supply chain, occurring at the end of life of the product and outside of the control of the retailer.

• The central aim of the Free Store project for T.E.Z.A is collaboration with food retailers, economists, academics and appropriate business people to investigate and develop a viable statistical model for waste management. The primary goal being to re-orientate waste management into the front end of the supply chain, developing a statistical model for small to large scale businesses enabling businesses to forecast food waste down to a 0 – 3% margin.

• Waste forecasting empowers businesses to reduce waste through adapting ordering systems and supply chain management based on statistical data, this also introduces the option to gift / donate excess stock at the prime of the product’s life, ultimately changing business and consumer attitudes to waste.

• Collaboration with necessary parties is occurring in the months leading up to the onsite T.E.Z.A activity, the project will result in the development and implementation of a radical but entirely functional economic model for forecasting food waste, the T.E.Z.A project functions as both the catalyst and framework for the project.

• It is not yet resolved how the outcome of the project will manifest, it could be the development of software or a technical handbook or publication proposing a workable model for waste forecasting. Ultimately T.E.Z.A will both facilitate ‘real world’ connects and collaborations between seemingly disparate and unconnected people and disciplines. The period on site will focus on connecting the project with potential consumers of the model and also as a platform for promotion and education.