Australia wastes approximately 7.6 million tonnes of food each year. At the same time, food insecurity affects millions of Australians. The gap between surplus food and hungry people is largely a logistics problem — the food exists, but getting it from where it is to where it’s needed, before it spoils, is remarkably complex.

Technology is starting to close that gap, and some of the most interesting innovation is happening right here.

The logistics challenge

Food rescue isn’t as simple as collecting leftover food and handing it out. The food needs to be safe, it needs to be transported within cold chain requirements, it needs to match the dietary needs and preferences of the people receiving it, and it needs to arrive before it expires.

Traditional food rescue operations relied heavily on scheduled collections, established relationships with food donors, and manual coordination by phone and email. This worked, but it was inefficient. Collections happened on fixed schedules regardless of whether there was surplus food. Donors had no easy way to flag unexpected surpluses. And matching specific food types to specific community needs was largely guesswork.

Matching platforms

Several Australian organisations have built technology platforms that address these inefficiencies.

OzHarvest’s OZHARVEST app allows food donors to flag surplus food in real time, triggering collections from the nearest available driver. This shift from scheduled to on-demand collection means food is rescued faster and less of it spoils in the interim.

Yume, an Australian social enterprise, operates a commercial marketplace for surplus food. Food manufacturers and distributors can list surplus stock at discounted prices, and buyers — including food rescue organisations, hospitality businesses, and consumers — can purchase it. What doesn’t sell commercially is donated to charity.

SecondBite, another major Australian food rescue organisation, uses technology to coordinate its network of community food programs, matching available food to the programs that need it most.

The data advantage

What these platforms have in common is data. By digitising the food rescue process, they’re generating information about food waste patterns, demand patterns, and logistics efficiency that was previously invisible.

This data enables better decision-making at every level. Food donors can track their waste patterns and identify opportunities to reduce surplus in the first place. Rescue organisations can optimise their collection routes and volunteer scheduling. Community programs can predict demand and plan their offerings.

Some organisations are beginning to use predictive analytics to anticipate when and where surplus food will be available, allowing them to pre-position collection resources. This is still early-stage, but the potential is significant.

Cold chain monitoring

One of the biggest risks in food rescue is maintaining food safety through the cold chain. Donated food that’s been temperature-compromised is dangerous, and food rescue organisations are rightly cautious about distributing food that might be unsafe.

IoT sensors and temperature monitoring technology are helping address this. Relatively inexpensive sensors can monitor the temperature of food throughout the collection and distribution process, creating a digital record that demonstrates food safety compliance.

This isn’t just about safety — it’s also about confidence. Donors are more willing to contribute surplus food when they know the rescue organisation has robust systems for maintaining food safety. And community programs are more confident distributing rescued food when they have data showing it was handled properly.

Volunteer coordination

Food rescue relies heavily on volunteers — for collection, sorting, and distribution. Coordinating a large volunteer workforce is a logistics challenge in itself.

Several organisations are using volunteer management platforms (like Rosterfy, an Australian company) to match volunteers to shifts based on availability, location, and skills. Some have developed their own apps that allow volunteers to see available shifts, claim them, and receive real-time updates about collection locations and quantities.

This technology-enabled approach to volunteer management has increased the reliability and efficiency of food rescue operations, reducing no-shows and ensuring that the right number of volunteers are available for each collection.

The remaining challenges

Technology has improved food rescue operations significantly, but several challenges remain.

Last mile delivery. Getting rescued food from central distribution points to the community organisations and households that need it remains difficult, particularly in regional and remote areas where distances are large and volunteer networks are thin.

Data sharing. The food waste ecosystem involves producers, retailers, rescue organisations, and community programs, but data sharing between these groups is limited. A more integrated data infrastructure would improve the efficiency of the whole system.

Funding technology development. Nonprofit food rescue organisations typically operate on tight budgets, and investing in technology development competes with direct service delivery for limited funds. More philanthropic and government investment in food rescue technology infrastructure is needed.

Digital inclusion. Some community food programs and their clients have limited digital literacy or internet access. Technology solutions need to be accessible to everyone in the food rescue chain, not just the tech-savvy.

The bigger picture

Food rescue is an important response to food waste, but it’s not a solution to the underlying problem. The real goal should be reducing surplus food production in the first place, through better demand forecasting, supply chain optimisation, and changes to the practices and regulations that create unnecessary waste.

Technology can help with that too — but that’s a larger conversation about how we produce, distribute, and consume food in Australia. For now, the technology-enabled food rescue organisations are doing vital work, feeding people who need it while diverting food from landfill. They deserve more support and more attention.