Reporting from a programme supporting large New Zealand food businesses to reduce their food waste has shown that businesses are wasting less food, sending far less to landfill, and reducing climate impacts.

The latest aggregated results from Kai Commitment’s annual food waste measurement show steady progress from the businesses involved in reducing waste while improving operational efficiency and lowering costs.

Key results include:

  • Food waste sent to landfill has fallen by 85% compared with the baseline year, with more food going to other waste destinations such as anaerobic digestion or redistribution.
  • The amount of food being wasted as a percentage of food handled has decreased, with the median percentage of food waste dropping from 1.95% in the baseline year to 1.73% in 2025.
  • Food not sold has decreased from 14% to 12%, indicating improvements in operational efficiencies.

Businesses are also reducing their environmental footprint. Compared with 2024, greenhouse gas emissions linked to food waste fell by 3.39%, roughly equivalent to taking 67,000 cars off the road. Water and land use associated with wasted food both dropped by more than 4%.

“These results show what’s possible when businesses move from ad-hoc action to structured, data-driven food waste prevention”, said Kaitlin Dawson, Executive Director of Kai Commitment.

“Reducing food waste isn’t just about doing the right thing; it’s a practical way for businesses to improve efficiency, cut emissions, and make better use of resources”.

Alongside reductions in waste, companies are changing how they work day to day:

  • More than half of businesses involved in Kai Commitment now track the causes of food waste in detail, up from one-third at the start of the programme.
  • 57% have built food waste targets into their operational KPIs, compared with just 17% in the baseline year.
  • Every participating business now includes food waste prevention in staff training.
  • 71% link food waste reduction directly to their climate or sustainability strategies.

“These shifts matter,” Dawson said.  “When businesses can clearly see where food is being lost, they can fix problems earlier, prevent waste, and make sure good food goes to better uses.”

In 2025, Signatories also redistributed the equivalent of 10.6 million meals of unsold food to communities across Aotearoa. While slightly lower than in 2024, this remains a significant increase compared with the first year of reporting.

The data also shows that the reported total cost of food not sold and disposal across the group has fallen from $338 million in the baseline year to $190 million in 2025. This reflects lower waste volumes, better recovery of surplus food, and changes in how costs are measured.

Dawson said the results highlight the potential for other food businesses to benefit from this approach.

“Kai Commitment signatories are demonstrating what works.  There’s a genuine opportunity for businesses across the food system to start measuring, understanding and reducing their food waste, and to see the benefits for both their operations and the environment.”

Businesses that are part of the Kai Commitment are: Silver Fern Farms, Goodman Fielder, Nestle NZ, Woolworths NZ, Fonterra, Foodstuffs, Mars NZ, George Weston Foods and AS Wilcox.