Spreading Gleaning across the globe

In Autumn 2017, Kako Black, an Australian student on a one-year placement at Warwick university, joined Feedback for a six-month volunteering placement. Kako had contacted us before leaving Australia, as she was especially keen to learn more about our various projects and campaigns tackling food waste.

During her time at Feedback, Kako learned about and assisted with many areas of our work; she was particularly interested in our Gleaning Network programme, especially after attending several Gleaning days on farms and orchards.

“Even though I was someone who identified as being passionate about food waste, and concerned about food sustainability, I had never been to a commercial fruit farm before attending a glean with Feedback. I realised that I had been engaging with the issue of food waste from a single perspective (as a consumer) and that there were so many other ways to get involved – including, and importantly, at farm level. Sometimes the scale of the issue feels overwhelming. But unlike many other global issues, food sustainability is something we can all take direct action on. We all eat. We all have the capacity to make significant changes and tangible impact on reducing waste. What Feedback has taught me is that these actions are not the only way to get involved. It is also vital that we expand our perspectives and move away from solely consumer impacts to learn about and change our food system. We are not just food consumers, but food citizens.”

When Kako returned to Australia in the spring of 2018, we very much hoped that she would keep in touch. She was keen to find ways to continue the fight against food waste; we hoped there would be some great local projects she could get involved with.

But Kako went one step further: rather than wait for something to happen, Kako seized the initiative – and set up her own gleaning project, GIVback, to rescue crops in the state of Victoria.

We’re immensely proud of Kako, and inspired to know that Feedback’s work is having a positive impact on the other side of the world.