Finishing a can or bottle and placing it in the recycling is the right thing to do. But what if there was a way to also help feed those in need just by correctly disposing of your rubbish? A new initiative from OzHarvest Canberra and Return It sees every dollar raised through recycled containers go towards putting two meals on the table for locals in need.

Hitting their limits of what they could do here in Canberra, the local OzHarvest team requires more funding to be able to continue feeding people in the ACT region. The food donation organisation has increased its deliveries and food saved from landfill by 45 per cent in the last financial year, with plans to keep on growing.

“We have rescued a record amount of food in the last 12 months, more than 462,622 kg of free food has been donated to us and we’ve delivered that to 73 charities,” says Belinda Barnier, OzHarvest Canberra City manager.

With organisations and charities receiving the food completely free of charge, OzHarvest relies on donations to keep their operations going. Ms Barnier says although they are a national organisation, all the money received in the ACT region stays in Canberra and Queanbeyan. However, with increasing community demand, there are an additional 19 local charities on their register they don’t have capacity to service.

“We really are in trouble at the moment, and we can’t keep working the way we are – we’re actually at breaking point,” says Ms Barnier.

In a bid to help the community and the environment, OzHarvest Canberra has teamed up with Return It to launch their winter appeal. Throughout the next three months, they have a goal to raise $2,000 and put another 4,000 meals on tables across the ACT.

Figures from Return It shows that every year the ACT goes through more than 100 million containers that would be eligible through their scheme. Rough numbers say one container per person per day is available for refund across the Territory.

“We would like a small percentage of that and that takes some of the pressure off so we can get on and do the job of feeding people food that would otherwise go to landfill,” says Ms Barnier.

The Winter Appeal will see the 10 cents from each eligible container put through the OzHarvest designated options at Return It go directly to the charity.

“You can go into any participating depot … There’s a terminal at the front where the bag drop is, select OzHarvest as the charity donation and you can just put your bags in the purple OzHarvest labelled bin,” says Steven Pollock, Return It area manager NSW and ACT.

Of all the participating states and territories, ACT has one of the highest redemption rates of containers with around 70 per cent being recycled the right way.

“Generally, people want to do the right thing by the environment and they want to ensure their waste is going to the right refund facilities,” says David Lammers, Return It state manager NSW and ACT.

According to the Return It team, the containers should be empty when they are donated as it leads to better cleaning outcomes. Around 20,000 bottles and cans recycled through Return It will help OzHarvest reach their goal and make a huge difference in the lives of locals.

“It gives us the opportunity to do more … If you say to people what charity would you like to support, everyone would like to support all of them. If you’re supporting OzHarvest, you’re supporting 73 in one – and the environment,” smiles Ms Barnier.

Waves Carwash supports OzHarvest by keeping their vehicles clean and looking professional at no charge. Waves has come on board with the winter appeal by placing Return It bins at their five locations across town to make it as easy as possible for people to donate. Managing director of Waves Carwash, Robert Sacco, says for them it was a no-brainer; people come to the carwash to clean their car, so the synergy is there for them to drop off their recyclables.  

“When they come along to get their regular clean, they can come along and drop off their bags into the Return It bins. Then we can help recycle the plastic form the bottles and contribute to keeping food on the table for our disadvantaged people in the community,” says Mr Sacco.

Delivering 925,245 meals in the last financial year, OzHarvest Canberra is in desperate need of a third truck and additional driver if they want to keep going. Ms Barnier says a realistic estimate of what financial commitment would look like is between $150,000 and $200,000 or roughly 2 million containers donated – and she believes the community can do it.

“Canberrans are very compassionate and very generous. We’re actually not asking you for your money; we’re just asking you for your bottles and to look after the environment, look after the community,” she says.

Food rescue driver with OzHarvest, Ray Sevita, sees first-hand every day the massive amount of food they collect and deliver, and how much more they could be doing. Ideally, he says, some of the big corporate sponsors would come on board to help support a new truck and driver.

A highly valued member of the team, Mr Sevita has increased their pickups through his compassionate relationships with clients and donors, says Ms Barnier. Even with drivers like Mr Sevita pushing themselves to sometimes take on more than double the advised load, the charity still needs more help.

Delivering to up to 12 agencies a day, there has to be time to sort and package all the food. Mr Sevita takes great care to ensure that each delivery has a good mix of what people need for nutritious and filling meals.

“What I pick up one day could be balloons, the next day it could be water, so it’s never really the same. With having a cool room and a freezer at the warehouse, I try to put at least a bit of meat away and veg,” he says.

Find out more about the work of OzHarvest online at ozharvest.org or follow OzHarvest Canberra on social media: instagram.com/ozharvestcanberra, facebook.com/OzHarvestCanberra