With food waste now a $20 billion problem in Australia, Woolworths Group has found an innovative way to repurpose its unsold bread.
With the help of Tribe Breweries in Goulburn, Woolworths has introduced its first circular economy beer, made from leftover bread.
The limited edition pale ale, aptly named ‘Loafer’, is being sold exclusively at BWS and Dan Murphy’s, with a portion of the proceeds going towards Feed Appeal, a non profit that provides grants for local charities that deliver food relief programs and meals to those in need.
“We like to constantly challenge ourselves in the sustainability and community space and look at how we can make an impact simply by doing things differently,” Woolworths head of sustainability Adrian Cullen said.
“The ability to divert surplus food away from landfill, and to help support our local food rescue partners to help feed Australians that would otherwise go hungry, is a critical part of our day-to-day operations and support of the community.”
For every six pack sold at $25, 50 cents is donated to the food charity and for every carton costing $73, $2 is donated. To date, Woolworths has diverted more than 350kg of leftover bread to create the unique brew.
Tribe Breweries head of innovation Josh Gaudry jokingly said “it’s the best thing since sliced bread”.
“We wanted to create a beautiful craft beer and were excited to be able to support Feed Appeal and Woolworths in their fight against hunger and food waste,” he said.
“Through collecting rescued bread from Woolworths, we were able to incorporate this into the base of our brew, and lovingly crafted each beer with the aroma of fresh toast to produce an easy going pale ale with bright hoppy aromas reminiscent of pear and pineapple.”
Feed Appeal CEO Katherine Gokavi-Whaley said all money raised through the purchase of Loafer goes directly to community food relief charities.
The funds will help “to supply ovens, freezers, cool rooms, transport and other vital infrastructure to help them store, cook and share meals often cooked from rescued food to meet the growing demand”.
“We are pleased to see that there is now good beer, doing good on the market,” she said.
Loafer is available while stocks last at BWS and Dan Murphy’s stores across Australia.
