The Real Cost of Wasting Food with Dianne McGrath

January 10, 2023
67. The Real Cost of Wasting Food with Dianne McGrath

There’s a cost we all pay for wasting food but it’s a problem we can do something about. That’s what Dianne McGrath has been working on, and she says fixing this can improve outcomes for society, the environment, and the economy. 

Here are some important moments with Dianne from the podcast: 

At 5:10 Tell us about the one-year trip around the world you are going on?

At 9:09 Talk about the work you are doing to cut back on food waste and how that will make a difference?

At 16:11 What are restaurants doing to help with the food waste problem?  

Here are some ways to follow Dianne:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/diannemcgrath/

Website: www.diannemcgrath.com.au

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr_damcgrath/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/liteandportable/

Important information from Homeowners Be Aware:

Here are ways you can follow us on-line:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/homeownersbeaware/

Website: https://homeownersbeaware.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/george-siegal/

If you'd like to reach me for any reason, here's the link to my contact form:

https://homeownersbeaware.com/contact

Here's the link to the trailer for the documentary film I'm making: Built to Last: Buyer Beware.

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Thanks for listening!

Transcript

George Siegal: 0:00

My guest today is known around the world as an expert in sustainability and food waste, and that was the reason that I booked her to come on the podcast. But there are even more reasons to listen to her. She's got some amazing stories to share. She signed on to be part of a one way trip to Mars. Think about that. Signing up for a project that meant you were leaving Earth and never coming back. While it's hard to top that one. She's involved in another big project that's tough to pack a suitcase for, and we're gonna talk about that. When Diane McGrath gets involved in something, she goes big. That's why when she talks about reducing food waste and how it can improve outcomes for society, the environment, and the economy, we might want to listen. I'm George Siegal, and this is The Tell Us How to Make It Better podcast. Every week we introduce you to people who are working on real world problems and providing actual solutions. Tell Us How to Make it Better is partnering with The Readiness Lab, the home for podcasts webinars and training in the field of emergency and disaster services. Dr. McGrath, you said call you Diane. Diane, thank you for coming. All right, great.

Dianne McGrath: 1:07

Welcome. Thanks, George. It's great to join you. Oh, thank you,. George Siegal: Now let's, uh, learn mm-hmm talk about the reason that you're actually, um, on the podcast. You, you, I gotta ask you about being a Mars one, uh, astronaut candidate. It, first of all, I said it was a one-way trip. That's right, yeah.

George Siegal: 1:23

When you were signing up, you were signing up knowing you would go and never come back?

Dianne McGrath: 1:27

That's absolutely correct. And in fact, because it was one way, that was one of the attractions to me, not because I wanted to get outta this planet. I, I love this planet, uh, , but, but the idea of having to go and survive on Mars, not just go there, pick up some rocks and come home. It's, it was if we have to set up a new society, a new community on another planet, where there's no running water, we can't breathe the air. There's all of these things that would make it almost impossible. I realized that we would have to build a completely closed loop sustainable community, and that was it for me. It's like, oh, if we have to be able to design this and ensure it's going to work on Mars, then we have to design, prototype, market test builds, et cetera, everything here on this planet first. So I thought, oh, maybe by trying to do this to go to Mars, we can reshape how we treat this planet and how we manage and survive here on this planet. Yeah, our own close loop bit on a much bigger scale.

George Siegal: 2:32

So you were willing to throw, I mean, you're throw it all away. You're still walking away from life here., knowing it's a one way, I mean, I feel that way every time I get on American Airlines, that it's a, it's a one way trip. But , that's a pretty bold thing to do. I mean, to say, okay, you're leaving. I mean, did you see the Matt Damon movie where the, where he went to Mars?

Dianne McGrath: 2:48

I did. I did. I did a bit of science fiction. Bit of science fact, but lots of fun. Great movie.

George Siegal: 2:53

Yeah. So I think that's pretty scary. Um, I read an article, um, in Forbes, which I, I, you had told me before we started mm-hmm. that you didn't put a lot of stock in, but it, the project ended up not happening obviously because Yes. You, you're here. Um, how do you feel about that all the time you put in and then it, it ended up not happening?

Dianne McGrath: 3:10

Yeah, it, the day that I found out I was pretty, Disappointed. Um, and I could have had, I'd had so much hope for the mission progressing and, and then when we heard from the CEO of Mars one that sadly they had to close their doors, COVID was a pretty tough time for them when it came to getting new investors. Um, I thought, oh wow, I'd invested so much of my time in a different way in towards this mission. Um, but then when I sort of reflected on it, spent a few days just letting it sit. And I realized, well, I can still have an impact on this planet by staying here too. I don't have to go to another planet to make a difference.

George Siegal: 3:48

Yeah. I just can't wrap my head around knowing you would be leaving and never coming back.

Dianne McGrath: 3:53

But my mom was pretty happy. my, my, my mother was like, oh, that's lovely. You've gotta be around for a bit longer.

George Siegal: 4:00

That's great.. Oh, she was happy you were staying? Not that there was canceled.

Dianne McGrath: 4:03

Yes, she was. Yeah. I mean, she was excited that I'd got selected for the Mars one mission as well. I mean, she, my mother, um, of course any woman and man that was around during. Fifties and sixties when the space race was really first starting, um, like 1969 when, man, it's only been man that's been to the moon, uh, first stepped on the moon. Uh, I was actually born the day before that happened. Oh, wow. So my mother had a, there's a bit of a connection there between what was a momentous moment in history on that 20th of July, 1969 and, and me being born, uh, and so it's like, wow, my little girl, my daughter, and my my child could be a part of this extraordinary next leap forward for humanity. How amazing. So yeah, I was very lucky. She's incredibly supportive, right?

George Siegal: 4:51

I, you're so much more a pioneer than me. I mean, I get nervous when my kids go out for the weekend someplace to, to think of them going away one way, um, is pretty frightening. Now, you're also an accomplished sailor. Is, is sailing something you did as a kid? I mean, how do you have that in your blood where you, you get so good at something like that?

Dianne McGrath: 5:10

I, look, I didn't do it as a child. In fact, I grew up a lot of my time in my childhood in the outback, in the Northern Territory on, um, desert communities and aboriginal communities. So there was no water, uh, dried up old creek beds. It was completely desert. It was like, it was like being in the Utah desert, which I've spent some time in an an absolutely love that beautiful, peaceful part of the world. Um, So it was only when I became, uh, much more urbanized, so to speak. Most of our major cities in Australia are along the coastline that, uh, that I, I really took to the water maybe because I never had any of it when I was growing up, that I just was connected to it immediately. Uh, and, and so it started off with some casual sailings going out. Um, and this loving being on water to, to then doing, um, multiple weeks in the Southern ocean. Uh, so it just beautiful stuff. And when I heard about the clipper race that every two years, this group of, of yachts, 70 foot yachts do this 11 month trek around the planet hitting every continent except Antarctica, but doing social good along the way as well. Oh, this resonates very strongly for me to be able to be a part of something which can, which can touch our communities all around the world and, and just be a huge adventure at the same time.

George Siegal: 6:26

Now that's coming up next year that you're gonna be doing this?

Dianne McGrath: 6:28

That's correct. Yeah. So we launch, actually this time next year, we'll be at sea. We launched from the uk, uh, I think it's the end of August, start of September next year. So at the moment I'm in, um, preparations mostly physical training and practicing knots, uh, and, um, and getting out there on the weekends and, and doing some, some racing.

George Siegal: 6:49

So you couldn't leave this world all together, so you found the next best thing, right? Just taking out yourself. You don't just put your toes in the water. You go for it when you do stuff, don't you?

Dianne McGrath: 6:58

That's, yeah, absolutely.

George Siegal: 6:59

Absolutely. That's, that's terrific. Now, what is the problem or issue that you have been working on, and what are you doing to make it better?

Dianne McGrath: 7:07

Food waste. I have been, I never thought, George, I never thought I'd be working in the world of waste in any fashion at all. When people think of ways to think of mucky, dirty, disgusting stuff, yeah, there's, it's, it's how we've labeled that and, and all of the, the emotional stuff we attached to that. It's almost like taboo things. Um, whereas I see it as a wasted resource instead, like, oh, we could have done so much with that. And, and so I, I got connected to, with this space mostly in the energy side to start with, in, um, in consumer energy, uh, how inefficient we are with it in our households. Uh, when I worked with the government in Australia, but then I moved towards food waste because I just, I worked in a lot of commercial kitchens growing up as well as a young adult. Um, but then I., what was happening at scale. and the, the lack of the ability for those surpluses sometimes to not get to food rescue or, or to feed hungry people when there are millions and millions of people in, in our countries that are going without food. So that's how I got into that sort of space cuz I just, I wanted to see. Why is this happening and what can I do?

George Siegal: 8:15

It's time for emergency preparedness to go mainstream, smart, innovative, practical solutions that match your needs. Instinct, ready, educates, prepares and equips the everyday person for disaster. With promo code, make it better. You can access comprehensive preparedness courses and premium go bags. Visit instinct ready.com with promo code make it better today. Preparedness starts at home. Now there's all kinds of different levels of food waste, the way I think about it. Mm-hmm., because the way I was raised, my father, we, what we put on our plate, we had to eat. Yeah. Or we didn't get dessert. And so yes, we were encouraged not to waste. And then, you know, I see it now with, with my family, the amount of food we end up throwing out the amount of food that is in the refrigerator and never gets consumed. And then on a bigger level with, with agriculture and farming and all that stuff. So what levels are you involved in this in and, and, and how can you make a difference in something like that?

Dianne McGrath: 9:09

Yeah, so I work with the entire supply chain in a, in Australia. Uh, I'm working with an organization called Stop Food Waste Australia, and it's, it's a partnership of organizations that were set up through federal government seed funding initially and is now being, um, supported through the funding of a whole lot of commercial organizations. So the big food companies, um, the big retailers, so your Walmarts and so forth in the, in the US in, in Australia, they're Woolworths and Kohles. Um, but also your Compass at XO, Mars, um, Mandalays really big food companies and uh, and so it's a partnership as well of all of the state governments, and all of the food rescue organizations across Australia, the big ones, uh, as well as major research companies to see, oh, okay, how can we make a difference across the entire supply chain from, from farm to fork, where we sometimes have these problems that at one end, the, the scale, it mightn't look like a big problem, but the, by the time it compounds all the way through to the household, it becomes a massive issue. So we, we work in a way across that supply chain in a way that's with a voluntary group. So we've set up, um, a voluntary program where the big food companies sign up to hands on heart to say we are gonna cut our food waste. And by doing so, we are gonna help hit that sustainable development goal 12.3, which is to halve our food waste by 2030. And actually I must pause here for a moment. Bigger applaus to the US because under, um, under President Obama, when he was in, uh, I think it was back in 20 15, 20 16, the US are one of the first countries to strive for this. Before it was even fully ratified under the UN to try and, uh, work towards a, a food waste by 2030 goals. So, so bravo, uh, and there's some, some amazing work being done in the US because of that. We've got a bit of catch up elsewhere in the world too. Isn't it nice to be leading the way in this way in social? Well, it's environmental good.

George Siegal: 11:07

Yeah. It's nice to hear something good. Um, so how, how do you measure this? How do you establish, okay, this is what we're doing well, you know, what are the measurables to know if it's being successful?

Dianne McGrath: 11:19

And to get good data in food waste is pretty tricky. I mean, every individual business, cuz we work with everything from, as I said, the, the retailers through to the manufacturers, to the agriculturalists, uh, and uh, and all of the food service and hospitality institutions too. So everybody tracks food in a different way. If we think about even our households, George, we buy our groceries, we might write a shopping list and we throw stuff away. Do we actually ever calculate what the cost of that was or how many pounds that was that were thrown away? And, uh, if every household in the US actually did that, they would find that every individual person in their household is throwing away the equivalent in weight of a loaf bread a day. So a pound of food per person, per day in the US is thrown away, which if it was, I'll be like, oh my God, really? Am I throwing that much away? Um, so by actually paying attention to it, that's the first step. And businesses are, are starting to do that here. It's not mandatory to measure waste, but any of the businesses that sign up to the voluntary agreement program, which is called the Australian Food Pack, have to record their waste. They must work out where they're wasting food. Where am I bleeding food, but also bleeding dollars along my supply chain, uh, and it's, and companies, when they've started, they joined up the pact, which only started late last year when they signed up and they started doing their first assessments of where they're wasting food. There was some wide eyes. They were absolutely shocked with how much they're wasting and where it was in the supply chain and why that might have been happening. But what it's done, of course, when you, when you finally see something, you can't help but do something. So as we expect over the first couple of years, we'll see the, the largest amount of change, which won't necessarily be reflected in the, the amount of data reported on food waste. Because of course when you start to look for something, you then start to notice it. Then you get better at looking for it. And so you'll see more in the next year and the next year because you're actually able to look more deeply at where your waste is. Uh, my own PhD, I have, my PhD is in environmental engineering, and I focused on food waste in the Australian, uh, hospitality and, uh, and food service sector. Uh, and only about 22% of businesses had ever audited their own waste before doing, uh, my research project, which was please audit your waste over a three month period and tell me what happens each time you audit it. And so I didn't go in and do anything. But what happened and with the data demonstrated, this was after the first time they audited their waste, they saw where it was occurring and mostly it was front of house. It was on our plates. Uh, and only about half of it was back house in their kitchen where they have more control. But then when they, the next time they ordered them, the next time those ratios changed because they saw the big amount. It was like, oh my, Okay. Even though that diner has already paid for that food and I've got my profit, I normally, I wouldn't care about how much they throw out, but they started to care because they saw, well, I could make for every one of those. Oh gosh. Yeah. That's an extra meal I could make every out of every 10 plates. Huh? All right. That's more profit for my business. So when they turned it around to dollars for themselves as well that had a huge impact. So what we do at Stock Food Waste Australia, as well as, you know, working with individual companies to, to have a better understanding about where their waste is, we then almost work in an adjunct consult consultation sort of way as well. Or we give them advice, we connect them to tools, maybe collaborations with other organizations and, and businesses to try and solve that problem. But when that problem becomes bigger than something that one individual company can solve, like just say it's a policy problem for example. We then put together working groups that are pre-competitive and completely within consumer laws. So comp, um, they're not, um, within anti-competition laws at all. So it ensures that people can then work across a sector to solve these problems. And we call these sector action plans and we have them already for bread and bakery in, and they're nearly finished now for bread and bakery, for dairy. They're in development for red meat. Um, we're doing one for food service as well, and hospitality and, and institutions like hospitals. Uh, and we have one already for food rescue and for col chain. So if we can do things across the whole sector, we can have a big impact that way.

George Siegal: 15:45

Well, I can tell you where hospital food gets wasted. Nobody wants to eat it. So, uh, , it's, it's horrible. Now, so w w it seems like one of the cures, it sounds like, so smaller portions in a restaurant, if diners are wasting food, do they have more control over that or does it mean the restaurant at the end of that day takes food and maybe takes it to a homeless shelter or repurposes it in a way that benefits other people. How does, how does that all work?

Dianne McGrath: 16:11

All of the above. P d? Absolutely. It, it'll depend on what particular surplus or wastage is, if it's large enough, an amount for that diner to take home. Offer them a doggy bag. Now, doggy bags very common in the US but they're not in other countries. In a lot of other countries, it's almost a case of all cringe, social shame to ask for a doggy bag, which is insane. Yeah, I mean, as the diner, you own that food. You bought that food by contract law, that's yours. I'm taking that home and a part, how good does a pasta or a curry taste the next day? Almost better. So i'm taking that home. Um, so, but the portion size thing is really tricky. Businesses want to provide value to the diner, and the diner wants to receive value, but value is such a perceived, almost like unreal concept that can be altered very easily. But what we've seen in research, and this is done in, uh, with chefs in the U.S., like hundreds of chefs were, um, were surveyed on this matter, and, and they, uh, they told us that diners won't notice if a portion size is about 10% less. Now 10% is not a lot . If you're putting a hundred grams of fries, that's only about three or four fries on a plate, so it's not a lot of food. But if you think about it, then well 10% less on each plate. That's one extra plate of food I can create every 10 meals, so it's quite dramatic. And the amount of food that diners leave when they go out. Um, I did, um, research with diners as well and, uh, interviews of hundreds of diners and, and they leave about 15% of the food on their plate. When they leave it. So hang on a sec. If we're two by 10%, there's probably still gonna be some that leaves some. So I don't think we'll notice a big problem here. In fact, we'll have a better outcome. We'll have less waste going to landfill, which means less methane, but less co2 e less greenhouse gas emissions will have, um, less food that needed to be purchased by those businesses. Um, less land that needed to be cleared to grow that food that people didn't need. So this, the impact across the supply chain is by trimming portion sizes is, is fantastic.

George Siegal: 18:22

Yeah. I've noticed since covid, um, a lot of times in a restaurant they're out of things. Mm. Um, and would this seems like this could possibly lead to that. Okay. If I'm gonna be smarter about what I'm wasting, maybe I won't have as many of it, so we won't have as much of the prime rib or the salmon or something. Yeah. Does it, does it work that way also?

Dianne McGrath: 18:42

We've seen some great research from the US that have indicated that households have changed their food purchasing quite dramatically over the Covid period. Um, particularly cause of the, the shortages on shelves at the moment. And that's due to a number of reasons. I mean, whether it's supply systems, um, inability to get people to come and do the picking for fresh produce. We have that as a big problem in Australia. Uh, and so we end up with a real lack of, of what is used to be standard produce, or it's become so expensive that people don't buy it very often. It's a treat, it's a, it became a treat to have a lettuce here in Australia at one stage because we had so many floods as well as um, a lack of people to be able to, to harvest the produce. So it was like hen's tooth. It was so gold in, in its, um, in its value that people just didn't. And we saw in the fast food restaurants, the Qs, quick service restaurants such as Europe, um, burger Kings or McDonald's. You would see signs on the windows saying, we will charge you the same for your burger, but you're gonna get less lettuce, lettuce in it at the. So, so, but it, so we see this highlights that the price of food has gone up dramatically and households are responding to that. But what's sometimes challenging is that where we buy our food and how we buy our food doesn't allow us to have that sort of flexibility of reducing how much we have. If we think about when we, we, we mentally think that if I buy in bulk, that unit cost will be a lot less. And so this is good value for me. This, that word value again, right. But yet we might buy a large bag of apples, for example. Because they'll be so cheaper per apple, but I'm only gonna eat about half of them. So by the time I get to the end, I'm gonna waste maybe about three or four apples cuz they're really soft and I dunno what to do with them. I haven't really learned that skill maybe. Uh, and so I end up paying by unit cost probably more per apple than if I just bought what I needed. So sometimes our retailers, our supermarkets don't help us in that way. They think they. But they're not. They're making, they're actually almost creating ways by encouraging us to buy that, the two for one offers or the things in bulk. So if we just buy what we need, what seems like a greater price at that time is probably gonna be something we actually eat.

George Siegal: 20:57

Yeah, I think in places like Costco, you know, you stick to products like toilet paper, paper towels, things like batteries, things that aren't necessarily, they're not gonna go off, but even batteries have an expiration date on'em where they lose their effectiveness. So,

Dianne McGrath: 21:09

um, well, well, expiration date's a big problem. Uh, in, in Australia and the U.S. One of the main reasons households throw away food is because they're not sure if it's still safe to eat, and whether that's because, like you said, it's in the refrigerator. You, it's, how long has it been in the refrigerator? Don't remember. Um, there's ways of managing that. You can maybe have a, a po a portion of a shelf that's for the stuff that has to be used first. You know, you maybe put a color coding part on, on one of your shelves, on your fridge, and it's like, this is the, the, um, first out shelf here. This is what you touch first kids and then get into the other snacks. But, uh, but the also, the other part of the, the story is the actual date labels on the food. And there's what is used by date. There's best to use by date. There's best before date. There's packed by date. There's freeze by date. There's all of these other dates, and we find that householders only about half of householders understand what all those dates mean. So let's simplify that a bit.. George Siegal: Yeah, please do. Because I know milk.. Okay. That one's pretty accurate. And sometimes it goes bad before that date. Yeah. Based on how it's left open. But what, how could people push those boundaries a little bit? Well, there's only one of them that really makes a difference when it comes to food safety, and that's used by, and so you can almost think use it or lose it. And, and so when that date is, is, is what you, you're seeing once it's past that date, you really need to think twice about whether you're going to consume that food. Doesn't mean it can't be used. For example, milk when it goes off and you, you can do the sniff test. Actually, some of the solutions harken back to our grandparents really?. We used to, we didn't have dates and we didn't have all these complex packaging. It was very simple. But my grandmother, she would, this milk smells bad. Can't use it anymore, but you can because sour milk makes fantastic bread. So, you know, we have to relearn ways of, of reusing our produce. Um, for example, our soft fruit and veg, for example, fruit. Uh, you can make smoothies out of it. Vegetables is part of a soup or, or a stir fry. And there's lots of different ways we can repurpose, which is what you touched on as well for our our food service, our restaurants and cafes, they can be reusing some of the, the softer produce that they didn't get to put into a meal today can turn into something else for the, the special of the day tomorrow. Lasagna, vegetable lasagna is always a good one., George Siegal: I think it's just that fear something that you think is expired. Yeah. And we were a bit more sensitive towards that I think at the moment, George, after a couple of years of, of Covid being such a, a, a real issue when it came to how we felt safe. Uh, when it came to our, I guess, sanitation, we maybe over sanitized sometimes. We, we washed our hands so many times, and some of us probably don't have squirrels anymore at our fingertips. But what we have is, uh, sensitivity towards how safe our food is. How, how has this been treated? Um, we'll, gradually the pendulum will gradually swing to something a bit more sensible, I think. Um, but in the meantime, while we're still in a, in a world where we're unsure about what will happen with covid or, or any other sort of, uh, infectious disease, then being aware of how we can be safer with our food is not a bad thing. It's just about thinking about what are the implications of that. We can always reheat things as soon as we cook food again, it has a chance of, of being safe.

George Siegal: 24:34

All right, now you make the statement, if we reduce our food waste, we can improve outcomes for society, the environment, and the economy. I mean, to the average person, that's pretty, that's a pretty bold horizon. You know, I, I'm thinking about how can have my dinner tonight and then exactly through tomorrow. So how should we think of that?

Dianne McGrath: 24:53

I think for, for every time we shop, if we just think of our own situation at home and don't have to think about the whole supply chain, while I might operate across a whole supply chain like you, I just need to eat tonight as well. If I only buy what I need is the first thing, then I'm not gonna be having excess produce in the, in the refrigerator that's gonna go off. Now that might sound like, oh gosh. Um, you're telling me I need to be more careful with what I do. Well, it's not about being careful, it's just being aware. In this current situation, food prices have gone up so much in the us In fact, they've gone up so much. Like, I think it's about 12% some crazy amount for households to, um, pay for, for food, um, in the last 12 to 18 months versus only half as much that the increase has been in when you dine out. So, which is usually the opposite. Usually food costs go up more when for dining out than they do for, for eating at home. So it really does mean that we have a chance now to leverage what is a difficult time to think how can I save some money by buying food smarter and then can I put some of those practices into how I just manage that food ongoing when the economy picks up again. So, and when I talk about social good , and here's where we all have an opportunity as households too. Usually I talk about how big businesses can donate surpluses. You talked about don donating surplus food to to food rescue organizations to feed hungry people. And we have in, in the US you've got Feeding America, which is magnificent. Um, organization that does exactly that helps to feed those who are food insecure and the US and, um, during the covid period, I mean, food insecurity really was, it was phenomenal. Uh, over 10% of of US households experienced food insecurity at some stage during the year. It was, it was really quite stark. Um, so how do we make sure that people have access to food? Sometimes in our cupboards, we might have, in our pantries we might have those tins. Those tins of food or jars of food that we just, we'll just buy some extras. They're on, they're on special at the moment. The two for ones, maybe one of those we could donate to a food charity. How can I help my local community? And so then it's, when it does go off, I don't just throw it in the, the trash at home, I'm actually making sure that I have a look through my pantry maybe once a month and see is there something there that's a bit short dated. Still gonna be fine to eat. But you know, let's be honest, I may not actually get to eating it myself. Then perhaps I can go to some social good by helping someone locally as well so we can have an impact in our households through just being a little smarter, being a bit more aware and being connected to our local communities. Do fridge selfie, have a look at what's in our fridge before we, before we go to the supermarkets, take a photo. Um, and then, then we don't have to write a note for ourselves about what to buy. We'll remember, oh, can't remember that. So I've got a photo. Oh yeah, I've got so much mayonnaise. I don't need another jar of mayonnaise. I'm fine. So just little things we can do to help ourselves at home. So food waste across the supply chain doesn't have to be so overwhelming. It can be just one little thing that we choose to do today.

George Siegal: 27:57

So what, what will it take for you to feel like this is a success? It sounds like you're still tightening up a few of the the categories. What's it gonna take for you to go, Hey, I think we're making a difference here?

Dianne McGrath: 28:09

I think the measurement part of thing is that the first big step there, George. As soon as we see our regular measurement of food wasted going down. Because businesses have finally started to to know and understand where the food's been wasted and can then start to have an impact on where their largest problems are. Then I know that we've got people thinking the right way. Cause it, it's, it's fine to be doing something that the government tells you to do. The government's not telling anyone to do this Here in Australia, this is not mandated. This is not regulation, this is all voluntary. And that the, the, our federal funding, which went behind our organization was because they believed that industry had the ability to do this without having to go to regulation. And we, I wanna see that happen. And this is where we will see a positive outcome if businesses do take that responsibility.

George Siegal: 29:00

Okay, now, so one of the things I try to do every, um, every podcast is we, we give people some encouragement if they have an idea or something they're working on what they should do to push it forward. You seem to be that all in kind of person with the stuff that you do., what advice do you have for other people?

Dianne McGrath: 29:17

Sometimes it's hard to go all in, and I completely respect that. Uh, in other areas of my life, I don't go all in. What I do is I look for people who do. And I see how can they help me make a difference? And it might be through, uh, if it's about charitable things for, with the local community, it's, I know you had a, a guest on not long ago about different charities and so. Find a charity that works with you and aligns with your values and helps support their work, because then they can have a broader impact than you might be able to have individually. But sometimes it's nice to physically touch something and do something. And that's where looking at what's happening in your local community can, can be really helpful. What are the different sorts of, um, I guess not just food charities, but um, cooperations, uh, maybe there's some food rescue. You can volunteer some of your time. Um, but there's lots of different ways. So have a look in your local community to see where you can make a difference.

George Siegal: 30:09

All right. I have two more questions for you. Uh, the first one, How do you pack for a one year sailing trip?

Dianne McGrath: 30:17

Very lightly. So we're only allowed to take between about 20 to 30 kilograms of, uh, of, well anything on board with us. And so there's about 20 people on each boat and half of us are certain navigators. So, uh, I won't have the chance to just come on for one leg of that journey. I've gotta take everything for the whole year, pretty much. Um, I think about a bit like food efficiency. What if I was designing a menu for a restaurant? I'd think about ingredients that I could use in almost every dish. So when I'm packing for a trip around the world in a boat for 11 months, I need to pack things that I can use in almost all conditions.. George Siegal: Yeah. That's probably a, a, a safe thing to assume. Now, behind me there's a bunch of stuff going on. I have all kinds of pictures and creatures and things and stuff. You have one picture behind you. What is that picture of? The picture? Probably can't see it very well. I just, I'll try and change my camera there. It might see we've now Sydney Harbor Bridge. Okay. So I'm, uh, I'm based, I used to live in Sydney. I, um, now live in Canberra at the moment in the A c t Australian Capital Territory. So Canberra is our nation, national capital. Um, so it's like living in DC essentially. A lot of public servants here,, like in DC and they're, it's a, it's where our government sits. Uh, and I live maybe a few blocks from our Parliament house and it's times of the year is very exciting. But I used to live very close to Sydney Harbor bridge. And part of my route when I would run, go running in the morning would be to try and say, can I get past the bridge? Can I go under the bridge? Um, because I loved being near the water. It was so important to me to be close to water when I lived in Sydney. I just, I just felt that I was connected to nature then, uh, even though I was in this huge urban environment, huge city, there was this spaciousness of, of the beautiful blue. Uh, and so this was my, always my connection to it in the mornings to run past the bridge.

George Siegal: 32:14

Fantastic. And you know, I, I, I'm sure you're disappointed that that one way trip outta here was canceled, but, uh, maybe we're all better off that you didn't get on that, uh, rocket because it sounds like you're getting a lot of stuff done here.

Dianne McGrath: 32:26

Thanks, George. That's really sweet.

George Siegal: 32:28

Yeah. So thanks for coming on. I look forward to, uh, hopefully you're gonna be posting stuff about your trip. Is this stuff gonna be something we can follow online?

Dianne McGrath: 32:35

Absolutely. Yeah. If you check out my website, it's diane mcgraw.com .Au. Uh, and you can find out more about what's happening in the food waste world, uh, in the U.S.. You can go to refi, r e f e d.org, and in Australia, it's stop food waste australia.com .Au

George Siegal: 32:53

And any other social media stuff you have, I'll put in the show notes so people can get in touch with you. But certainly look forward to tracking your progress on that trip. That sounds like it's gonna be spectacular. Diane, thanks so much for coming on today.

Dianne McGrath: 33:03

Thanks George. It was great.

George Siegal: 33:05

Thank you so much for joining me on today's Tell Us How to Make It Better podcast. All the contact information for Dr. McGrath is right there in the show notes. And if you have any questions for me, things you wanna see on future episodes or comments, complaints, anything you want to talk about, there's a contact form that goes directly to me and I will get back to you as quickly as possible. Also, if you enjoyed what you were listening to, and you can share the link to the podcast, um, you can also subscribe to the podcast, even leave a review that would be a tremendous help as well. Thanks again for listening. See you next time.