The NCC Sustainable Living Program actively assists households and communities to live more sustainably through delivering a range of workshops, events and educational resources. We’re currently running a series of Urban Gardening Workshops that encourage city residents to grow food in small spaces. Some of our other workshop programs include the Food Waste Challenge, Climate Challenge and the Green Renters Challenge.
Food waste particularly, and the global, industrial food system more generally. We live in a world where a billion people are starving, a billion people are obese, and approximately 40% of all food produced is thrown away before it even reaches supermarkets because it is deemed too ‘ugly’. The current food system doesn’t make sense and is downright unhealthy. It simply has to change.
That people become more food literate and start to genuinely care about where and how their food is produced. We want to see people become more connected with their food instead of being dependent on industrial supermarket chains. We want all Australians to know that apples grow on trees and sometimes have spots.
Growing veggies in our backyards and community gardens and turning food waste into fertiliser (with the help of our worm farms and compost bins). Turning a baby basil seedling into a fully-fledged bush which produces a jar of pesto a fortnight is pretty satisfying.
It’s impossible to pick just one food, or even food group! We love diversity and variety! But currently, some of our in-house foodies are addicted to raw chocolate made with raw cacao, coconut oil, nuts and dried fruit. De-vine!
Come to some of our urban gardening workshops in Sydney, and stay tuned for a sustainable food celebration and fundraiser later in the year.

Food Waste Challenge Preserving workshop
If you're wanting to go one step further in saving food from going to waste, maybe you could try preserving? Here, Kate Hopkins from the Nature Conservation Council of NSW talks about why we should consider pickling, preserving and making jams!
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Food Waste Challenge: Kitchen Waste Reduction
There are so many small things you can do to make the food in your fridge your friend and not foe! A little strategic thinking and you'll be eating more fresh food, more often.
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Food Waste Challenge: Portion Control & Sustainable Food
With so much food available to us, we need to start learning how to control the size of our meals, use leftovers and plan ahead!
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