Senator Ruston (middle) with (L-R) CEO Steve Clifford; Head of Strategic Funding & Planning John McIntyre, GM Operations Lucy Coward, Vic Operations Manager Nick Hilliard

SecondBite CEO Steve Clifford welcomed Senator Anne Ruston on a tour and meeting at our Heidelberg national office last week. 

The Senator’s department has provided more than $7.6 million in COVID relief, bushfire and other funding in the past three years and was keen to see how some of this money has been put to use.

Steve spoke of SecondBite’s role as the most cost-effective food rescue and food relief organisation in Australia, providing approximately five meals for every dollar invested in our work. He further spoke of the ongoing need for funding so that we can continue to support agencies to improve their food holding capacity and maintain their food relief programs to support Australians doing it tough, especially during the ongoing uncertainty of pandemic isolation. The SecondBite 2021 agency report highlighted that three quarters of agencies expect continued increased demand as a result of the pandemic.

(L-R) warehouse supervisor Brett Smith, Senator Ruston, Steve Clifford and Nick Hilliard with some of the fresh produce sorted on the day.

In 2021 the total volume of food collected and redistributed nationally across our five warehouses was 24 million kg, equal to approximately 48 million meals.

With food waste costing the Australian economy around $36.6 billion each year, it’s not hard to see the value that SecondBite brings to the economy. The National Food Waste Strategy Feasibility Study Final Report 2021 highlighted that for every dollar invested in food waste prevention in Australia the average return on investment is in the vicinity of $7-$10.

The Senator was suitably impressed by our systems and the impact of food programs run by our 1,400 agency partners and was offered a return visit to any of our warehouse facilities in the future.

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