Cooking for Change Event: BioPak x OzHarvest

BioPak, OzHarvest and one of Australia’s most loved chefs, Alastair McLeod, teamed up on the 8th of May 2024 to host a zero waste cooking event, ‘Cooking for Change,’ at Suncoast Fresh in Brisbane to help feed people in need.

The event was filled with motivation, positivity and passion, showcasing a range of Australian-first initiatives that are changing the way restaurants and businesses tackle food waste.

In Australia, we waste 7.6 millions tonnes of food per year – and one third of that comes directly from homes (source). 

The ‘Cooking for Change’ event recognised that both food rescue and composting are key drivers in tackling our nation’s food waste crisis – and both can be achieved when creative minds and innovative organisations come together. 

BioPak, OzHarvest and Alastair McLeod set out to show Australians how easy it is to get creative in the kitchen and make nutritious, restaurant-quality meals with food that would otherwise be wasted. Attendees got creative, whipping up chicken, mandarin and old bread salad on the Suncoast Fresh rooftop. The recipe made use of ingredients that are often left to waste in our fridge or pantry. These meals were then distributed to charities around Brisbane to help feed some of the community’s most vulnerable. 

To complete the circle, OzHarvest composted any leftover food scraps, along with BioPak’s certified compostable packaging, through Mallow Sustainability’s food waste collection service. The final step toward circularity. 

The day also featured guest speakers, including Alastair McLeod (Al’FreshCo), Lea Maguero (BioPak Head of Sustainability), Kara Urbanska (OzHarvest QLD Chef), and Dickson Lee (Mallow Sustainability Operations Manager).  

OzHarvest is Australia’s leading food rescue organisation, collecting quality excess food and delivering it directly to more than 1,500 charities to support people in need across the country. 

BioPak has partnered with OzHarvest since 2015, and in 2022, we formalised our partnership and committed to delivering 200,000 meals every year. 

Getting involved in Cooking for Change (an adaptation of OzHarvest’s regular Cooking for a Cause) is another way for BioPak to work toward our vision of a world without waste.

Kara Urbanska, OzHarvest Chef, also values the ongoing partnership with BioPak:

“The partnership between OzHarvest and BioPak has made a huge difference in the kitchen.” 

“As a charity, we are able to get these containers out to other charities in the community. So it’s an example … People can see we’re shifting from plastic to compostable. And hopefully, they'll follow along as well. So I think it’s really powerful.”

The Cooking for Change event was a roaring success thanks to the collaboration of creative and like-minded organisations.

As Kara Urbanska from OzHarvest put it, “The event today felt really good because we had a piece of ALL of the puzzle. We had representation from composting, representation from BioPak, representation from Ozharvest (feeding the people) and even a representation from Ellia [Future Wild] who’s growing the plants. So it’s that whole circular economy – from beginning to end.”

Cooking for Change was made possible thanks to OzHarvest, BioPak, Alastair McLeod, Mallow Sustainability, Suncoast Fresh, Future Wild and Compost Connect. 

Let’s take a look at each organisation or individual involved in the process. 

BioPak creates certified compostable food service packaging made from rapidly renewable, plant-based resources. 

Speaking with Lea Maguero, BioPak’s Head of Sustainability: 

“We’re very proud of our partnership with OzHarvest. [Each year], we’re able to give 200,000 meals to Australians in need. We’re happy our packaging can be used to deliver these meals, so they can be turned into compost, along with any food waste at the end of its useful life.”

“Our vision is a circular economy for our packaging – so it gets turned back into nutrient-rich compost and is used to grow more plants.”

Cooking for Change was an adaptation of OzHarvest’s regular ‘Cooking for a Cause’ workshop.

Kara Urbanska defined Cooking for a Cause: “Cooking for a Cause is a team building activity where we invite corporates into the kitchen and they get creative with us. [They] help us repurpose rescued ingredients that would otherwise get thrown into the bin and go into landfill. [We use these to] create restaurant-quality meals. These meals are then distributed to charities and agencies all around Australia."

Alastair Mcleod is a renowned chef and a much-loved Australian TV personality. 

Alastair is known for his innovation and creativity, so who better to have leading Cooking for Change – an event dedicated to looking at new and exciting ways to use food and minimise waste. 

Alastair gained a lot from the day, too: 

“If there is a force of love and logic behind this world, behind this universe, [it’s] being in the orbit of the people from OzHarvest and BioPak today. It makes me feel compelled – to want to try harder – to make change.” 

Mallow Sustainability provides a food waste collection service to businesses looking to reduce the environmental impact of waste disposal. They helped complete the loop at Cooking for a Cause – taking any leftover scraps and compostable packaging and turning them into compost.

Dickson Lee, Mallow Sustainability’s Operations Manager, explained, “We take the food waste from their kitchen, we take it back to our farm, use an open windrow process, and we turn the food waste into nutritious compost.”

Kara Urbanska from OzHarvest speaks to the benefit of Mallow Sustainability, “Having our compost collected at the end of each week by Mallow Sustainability has been a great example for our participants and volunteers alike that composting is achievable.” 

Suncoast Fresh is a partner of OzHarvest and a supplier of local, fresh and high-quality produce. 

We were delighted to gather on the Suncoast Fresh rooftop, where attendees prepared meals using ingredients that would otherwise have been discarded, transforming them into delicious and nutritious meals for people in need. 

Founder of Future Wild, Ellia Guy, creates productive culinary gardens for chefs – including the rooftop garden beds at Suncoast Fresh. 

This offers a true example of circularity. Guests could see the original food source in the nearby garden beds, which were then transformed into delicious meals. At the end of the day, any food scraps and packaging were sent to be composted – to be turned into nutrient-rich soil food to grow more plants. 

The event also showcased Compost Connect, a not-for-profit platform working to promote compost education and connect businesses with compost pickup services. With 23 compost partners servicing 2,200+ postcodes across Australia and New Zealand, businesses can search their postcode to find out if compost collection is available in their area.

Dickson Lee from Mallow Sustainability agrees, “Compost Connect is a great platform to connect businesses, even composting businesses, together.”

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