AUSTRALIANS throw out between $8-$10 billion of food every year[1]. This is an exorbitant amount, considering an estimated 1.9 million Australians go without food because they can’t afford it[2] and nearly 3 million people are living in poverty, one quarter being children[3].

With World Food Day approaching on Monday, Managing Director of online office catering leader Order-In, Jonathan Rowley explains how offices can put more thought in how they can reduce their food wastage.

Mr Rowley said, “As an organisation, we are very aware of this issue, which is why we are long-term supporters of OzHarvest. We have looked at the reduction habits of hundreds of our customers and found that the best practices to prevent food wastage at work, many of which can also translate to the home, are very easily implemented.” 

At work:

• Donate, don’t discard: There are many charities or organisations that will happily collect your unused produce and reallocate to places or people in need. This is perfect for when you’ve ordered too much food or if a meeting has been cancelled at the last minute. This will not only benefit those in need but it will also reduce the increasing amount of food that ends up in landfill, as currently 4 million tonnes of food ends up in landfill every year[4].
• Purchase in-season food: In order to make educated decisions, you should familiarise yourself with current in-season produce. Seasonal food will most likely be locally produced, meaning you will be supporting our farmers and growers. The produce will also be fresher, taste better and won’t perish as fast.
• Care for the environment: At your next corporate event or working lunch, you should look to use reusable or disposal plates, serve ware, utensils and glasses. When choosing these items, ensure they are bio-degradable or can be composted and recycled.

At home:

• Plan before you shop: The saying is true for grocery shopping, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. At the beginning of the week, plan each meal so you don’t buy unnecessary items, check what you already have at home and construct a list to save time and money. And lastly, don’t get sucked into the world of impulse buying! Stick to the plan. 
• First in, first out (FIFO): No we aren’t referring to the accounting method but a helpful way to unpack your groceries. You should move the older products to the front of your fridge or pantry and then put the newer products towards the back. Australians waste up to 20% of the food they purchase, which is equivalent to 1 out of 5 bags of groceries purchased[5], so this method will dramatically decrease your food wastage as you utilise the older stuff before it expires.
• Maximise it: Several foods will have more than one use. Vegetables, bones and meat scraps can be used to make stocks as the base of many meals. Overripe fruit will also make tasty smoothies, muffins or even cakes. Although wilted vegetables may seem unappetising, they can be used in soups or health juices. If you have a surplus of perfectly fine fruit, why not freeze them, make jam or marmalade, or even pickle them. Get creative!

“We all have to do our bit and at Order-In, we actively encourage all of our corporate catering clients to notify OzHarvest when they have a surplus of food that is perfectly edible.  We urge all households and offices to do the same." Mr Rowley said.

“We also offer our clients the option to make a $1 donation each time they place an order, which goes directly to OzHarvest. It might seem like a small contribution but over the length of our partnership, we have matched this dollar for dollar and have raised close to $8,000, which has provided more than 16,000 meals to disadvantaged and vulnerable men, women and children over that time frame. World Food Day is a good reminder of how fortunate we are and how we can all do our little bit to make it count.”

https://www.orderin.com.au

THE INTRODUCTION of Single Touch Payroll (STP) is in line with the Government’s digitisation agenda and should be supported, but there are still small businesses out there that will feel the compliance burden that it entails, according to the Institute of Public Accountants (IPA).

By July 1, 2019, businesses with less than 19 employees are expected to have implemented STP.

"While initially STP delivers little benefit to small business, we acknowledge that other benefits exist such as transparency over superannuation guarantee payments,” IPA chief executive officer, Andrew Conway said.

“Employees will be able to log on and make sure they are being paid the correct amount for their superannuation contributions so this level of transparency is most welcome.

“Our concern is for the 70,000 small businesses that have been identified that will struggle to implement STP without help and support. Many of these businesses are not digitised and will require adoption of technology and education.

“For small and micro businesses employing less than five people to implement STP before July 1 2019, will take considerable incentive and support.

“We support the notion of a phased and targeted incentive approach as proposed by the government.

“Hence, we are pleased to note that the government is considering a partial offset of costs and other incentives. However, we would like much more detail to ensure small businesses are not adversely impacted by the implementation of STP.

“There is also a reliance on strong internet connections which would disadvantage many working in more remote areas of Australia,” Mr Conway said.

publicaccountants.org.au

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INDUSTRY giants submit their wicked problems, and engineering students solve them – with the winners going to Silicon Valley: that’s the premise of the Maker Games, a rapid prototyping competition headed for the finals this weekend.

Curly problems provided by leading companies – Cisco, Commonwealth Bank, Telstra, Transurban, Phillips, WSP Parsons Brinckerhoff, Westfield, Rebel Sport and Vertif IT Solutions – have been taken up by teams of undergraduate engineering students at the University of New South Wales, who pitched solutions, then spent three months in an intensive rush to develop technical prototypes. 

The prize? A $25,000 all-expenses-paid trip to California to visit Silicon Valley icons and all the hot new start-ups.

The response? Almost 1,000 UNSW engineering students have signed up, and 17 teams have been beavering away for the past 12 weeks ahead of the showcase and finale on Saturday in front of the participating companies who will determine the winners.

“Engineers are not made like they used to be – students now need to be entrepreneurs and develop ideas and solutions to real-world problems, from which many of them either launch their own start-ups, or become part of emerging companies,” said Prof Mark Hoffman, UNSW’s Dean of Engineering.

“That’s the inspiration behind The Maker Games,” he added. “We have industry partners with really wicked problems, and we match them with the brightest engineering students in the country – and large numbers of them –  who are keen to apply the knowledge they’ve gained at UNSW to solving real world problems.”

Co-ordinator of the project is Danielle Neale, Entrepreneur-in-Residence at UNSW Engineering. “It’s been the most successful undergraduate exercise of this kind we’ve ever had. Students have taken up difficult industry challenges, and done so with gusto. Some of the ideas are really innovative, and those ideas are getting prototyped into products and solutions that are coming to life before our eyes.”

Five experienced industry specialists – with backgrounds in areas such as wearable computing, chemical engineering and internet-of-everything (IoT) devices – have also been on hand to help the students during a three-day ‘hack session’ earlier this month.

One of the challenges set by Cisco was to develop an advanced capability tracking sensor with very low-power requirements to monitor and track gas cylinders.

“The prototype developed by the students was well thought-out, and went beyond just tracking, which is a very common IoT use case,” said Jeff Apcar, a Distinguished Services Engineer at Cisco. “It uses a suite of sensors – including a gyroscope, GPS module, temperature and pressure sensors – that integrate into a IoT network via a LoRa low-power wide-area radio technology. The guys put a lot of work into the cylinder collar design using 3D prototyping. The end result is going to look great.”

The showcase and finale for UNSW’s Maker Games is being held on Saturday at the University of New South Wales from 3pm-7.30pm at Leighton Hall, Scientia Building, Kensington campus in Sydney.

UNSW’S FACULTY OF ENGINEERING

UNSW’s Faculty of Engineering is the powerhouse of engineering research in Australia, comprising of nine schools, 32 research centres and participating or leading 10 Cooperative Research Centres. It is ranked in the world’s top 50 engineering faculties, 11^th in the world in civil engineering and 6^th in the world in water resources. 

The faculty is home to Australia’s largest cohort of engineering undergraduate, postgraduate, domestic and international students. UNSW is ranked #1 in Australia for producing millionaires (#33 globally) and ranked #1 in Australia for graduates who create technology start-ups.

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FEDERAL Parliament's Northern Australia Committee will hold two public hearings in Canberra on Thursday, 19 October and Friday, 20 October 2017 as part of its Inquiry into Opportunities and Methods for Stimulating the Tourism Industry in Northern Australia.

As part of this inquiry, the Committee is examining the impact of tourism on the economy of Northern Australia including how infrastructure investment can facilitate a sustainable tourism industry and have a lasting spill-over benefit for the greater economy.

Flight services and travel routes are vital to narrowing the distances between tourist destinations in Northern Australia as well as transporting goods at a faster rate. For international tourists and visitors, undertaking a flight bound for Australia often forms their first impression of Australia, and so has an impact on the overall tourism experience.

‘The Committee is eager to learn more about how Austrade is increasing tourism investment under the Australian Government’s Tourism 2020 strategy, especially through the Tourism Major Project Facilitation Service‘ Committee Deputy Chair, the Hon Warren Snowdon MP stated.

‘Easily accessible, affordable and reliable flight connections have long been a point of discussion for those who live and work in Northern Australia, and for tourists, can either make or break the tourist experience. The Committee is pleased to be able to discuss what is being done to improve flight services and routes within and to Northern Australia into the future.’ Mr Snowdon said.

Public hearing details: 

Thursday, 19 October 2017
Committee Room 1R6, Parliament House, 8.45 am to 9.45 am.

Friday, 20 October 2017
Committee Room 1R2, Parliament House, 10.00 am to 12.45 pm.

The proceedings will be broadcast live (audio only) at aph.gov.au/live.

Further information about the Committee’s inquiry, including submissions and the terms of reference, is available on the Committee’s website.

Interested members of the public may wish to track the committee via the website. 

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