NZ’s food wastage illustrated by bread pyramid
A towering pyramid made out of 2,283 loaves of bread was constructed at Canterbury University to raise awareness of the scale of food waste in New Zealand.
As bread is the most wasted food item in New Zealand – 20 million loaves of bread are wasted by household every year – Love Food Hate Waste wanted to illustrate the extent of the issue.
To do this, we recruited University of Canterbury students to create a structure using 2,283 loaves of bread to signify the amount of bread that is thrown away by households every hour. To make the challenge harder, the pyramid was built live on Breakfast TV.
Breakfast reporter Matty McLean crosses live midway through the pyramid build
“It was a different sort of project, that’s for sure,” said Campbell Dawson, head pyramid builder.
“We’ve never worked with bread before. The important thing was to make sure that none of the bread got crushed so it that it was still suitable to be given away to people after the pyramid had been completed.”
To help distribute the weight of the 1.7 tonnes of bread blocks and sheets of plywood was used between the layers of bread.
The event, which was supported by the Christchurch City Council, also provided the opportunity to engage with students and educate them about ways they can reduce their food waste. Students were invited to make their own meal in a mug and sample bread quiches prepared by Jax Hamilton.
Christchurch City Council’s Justine Mowe chats with chef Jax Hamilton.
Following the completion of the pyramid, the bread, which was donated by Countdown, was distributed to university students, local low decile primary schools and to members of the public at the New Brighton Community Fridge.
