A Cut Above

Ronni Kahn – Putting Passion to work

Ronni Kahn AO, founder and CEO of OzHarvest, is a passionate champion of food sustainability – and she wants to spread the word.

Photography Anthony Geernaert

The word “passion” gets thrown around a lot, so much so that its meaning has become diluted. But if you’re searching for someone to restore that meaning, look no further than OzHarvest founder, Ronni Kahn AO. Passionate is her natural and authentic state. That enthusiasm is what provides the momentum to continue her fight against food waste, working towards a more sustainable future, as well as fueling her commitment to feed disadvantaged people across the country.

Sustainability has always been a part of the OzHarvest mission, but Kahn has recently focused efforts on raising awareness about the impact of food waste on our planet. “OzHarvest was born from a sustainability issue without me even knowing it was a thing,” explains Kahn, who founded the food rescue organisation in 2004 after seeing huge quantities of leftovers go to waste in her events company. “I had no idea about the environmental impact of food waste. I just saw a problem and decided to fix it.” Eighteen years later, the issue of climate change has become a priority for governments, businesses and individuals alike. And it’s no small one. The Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water reports that Australia uses about 2600 gigalitres of water to grow food that is wasted, with the amount of land used to grow wasted food covering an area larger than Victoria.

“OzHarvest is committed to the national target of halving food waste by 2030, and we’ll do whatever we can to empower others to do the same,” Kahn says. “Businesses are looking for ways to address the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Supporting our work is a great first step, but they should also review what they have within their power to change.”

So where to begin? Kahn concedes it’s a problem that can seem daunting at first. Instead of thinking it must be solved in one hit, she suggests focusing on what your business can do that could make a difference. Sometimes going for the low-hanging fruit can be a good place to start. It could be implementing a recycling