Waste Not

Just read this article this.  Brandon and I had a little discussion several months ago about food production. Brandon thought that if we suddenly had to grow our own food a lot of people around here might go hungry. One of his thoughts was that there isn't enough free land around Melbourne (maybe we were still living in Geelong at this point, don't remember) to grow the food this city would need. I thought that perhaps if we didn't waste as much food or land we might be able to grow the food needed. This is all hypothetical and just another brain exercise/debate that he and I often like to take part in.

But honestly, we really do not use space very well in this city.  All those nature strips you drive by could turn into great gardens. Instead of having paper bark and red gum trees why not plant fruit trees instead? We don't even think to use our roofs or vertical space.


And honestly I do throw food away. According to the above article I throw away this much...

Per capita, Europeans and North Americans waste between 95 and 115 kilograms of food. Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia ( I seriously doubt Australia is a food saving nation. We should be alongside the EU and the US) waste much, much less – between 6 and 11 kilograms per person.  The takeaway? The developed world wastes 10 times more food than the developing one.

And this all leads me to the bread ministry we have going on at the McKinnon church. It was started about a year ago by one of the families at church. I can't recall all the details about how it started. But anyway here is what this family picks up every Friday night. This is just from one bakery on one night. This bakery gets rid of bread every night. There are hundreds of bakeries all over Melbourne. Now I suppose in this case the waste of the bakery (due to their business slogan promising a full store even at closing!) is helping those who are in need. But I just wonder how many bakeries on how many nights end up putting it all in the rubbish?

By Sunday morning there are usually only a couple bags left. Through this ministry contacts have been made with the community in McKinnon, the local AA group that meets at the church, and a few other folk.  We are thankful for the bread ministry God has given us. The opportunity to provide food for the body as well as for the soul.


Waste not.