Fruit fighters feed the need

A group of Nelson teenagers are taking on food waste – one piece of fruit at a time.

As part of an after-school programme for high school students called Earthminds, they have initiated a ‘second harvest’ scheme. This involves working with local orchards and rescuing unprofitable fruit that would otherwise go to waste and then donating it to local food charity Kai Rescue.

“We looked into all the different areas around food and decided that food waste would be one we were most interested in,” says Nelson College student Jack Prentice, 15.

“It was also the one area we thought we could actually do something that would have an impact.”

Homeschool student Pia Tietjens, 16, says they collected eight boxes of persimmons, feijoas and apples during their first harvest.

“There was definitely a lot more produce there that we could have collected. But we were just mindful of how much that Kai Rescue could actually take and manage.”

The team aims to conduct another harvest, recruit more growers and build up a roster of volunteers once the 16-week programme concludes.

“We would like to continue it and see if we can get the resources to get the whole operation standing on its feet and then see where we can take it from there,” Pia says.

Nelson College for Girls student Banu Beinhauer, 17, says they are also seeing if there is any interest from private home owners who may have an excess of fruit in their gardens.

Earthminds has been set up by Sam and Kate Ng and is run from Ministry of Inspiration on Rutherford St.

The programme has been set up to help students design and drive their own climate projects.

There are six teams in total, working on water pollution, marine biodiversity, food waste, electronic waste, clothing waste and packaging waste.

Kate says the students get professional mentorship and guidance from industry experts and get to develop, test and pitch real solutions.

“It’s so inspiring seeing all these young people being empowered to collectively take climate action.”

To volunteer for a Second Harvest, or if you are a grower with excess fruit, visit https://forms.gle/VwKheEpw9MjGcKAy9