OzHarvest: Rescuing 250 tonnes of food waste every week

Every year, Australia wastes 7.6 million tonnes of food. OzHarvest, Australia’s leading food rescue organisation, works to divert food businesses’ excess stock towards charities serving people in need. The organisation tries to match food donations — which can include ‘ugly’ produce, items with labelling errors, or edible food in damaged containers — to nearby partners.

Using Geotab data, OzHarvest’s network of staff, 3,000 volunteers, and 2,000 food donors are all doing their best to make sure edible food doesn’t end up in landfills.

“With food rescue, you never know what you're going to get. When we rock up, we have no idea whether we’re picking up five crates of food or twenty. Sometimes we arrive to pick up milk but drive off with something else. It’s very random.” —  Brad Esmore, National Fleet Coordinator & VIC/SA Workplace Safety and Health Coordinator, OzHarvest

The challenge 

OzHarvest’s food rescue program offers free transport logistics to charities that don’t have the resources to pick up food themselves. Its current fleet comprises almost 90 vehicles, mostly smaller trucks that can transport between 800 and 1,400 kilograms of food.

“Sometimes we deliver food directly to charities depending on the volume,” says Brad, “other times it comes back to our warehouse to be broken down into smaller batches.”

Efficiently planning pickups and drop-offs can be challenging because many requests are ad hoc. Donations that are called in after an OzHarvest driver has left the area could mean doubling back, picking up another day, or skipping entirely if the produce is perishable.

“Before we had Geotab, we relied on drivers’ phone GPS for tracking,” says Brad, “it was highly inaccurate and would fail to update regularly, so we missed out on a lot.”

The solution  

“Pretty much every two years, we've doubled as a charity,” says Brad, “it was getting hard to keep up and once our fleet grew past a certain number of vehicles, so we looked into telematics to automate distance tracking and schedule servicing, among other things.”

Since implementing Geotab solutions, OzHarvest has been feeding vehicle data straight into its custom proprietary apps, enabling a centralised, real-time overview of fleet operations. This allows the organisation to ensure drivers are always conducting themselves as safely as possible by avoiding speeding, harsh cornering, and consistently using their seatbelts.

The introduction of audio and email alerts has also been instrumental in helping day controllers monitor driver behaviour and performance. These tools allow for better tracking of vehicle locations, facilitating efficient job allocation and more accurate arrival estimates. For example, drivers can be directed back to the warehouse promptly to receive new assignments without unnecessary delays.

Along with improved responsiveness to ad hoc donations and vehicle maintenance, OzHarvest now has better data around driver safety that could reduce its insurance premiums in the future.

Next steps

OzHarvest is keen to expand use of Geotab solutions alongside evolving needs, always keeping its drivers’ convenience top of mind.

Currently, OzHarvest is using Geotab solutions to compare the fuel efficiency performance of hybrid vs. diesel trucks; monitor trucks’ charging status in EV trials; and satellite-track a vehicle that does outreach to Indigenous communities in remote areas of the Northern Territory with poor mobile coverage.

It’s also testing automated temperature monitoring for truck refrigeration. If the journey between a pickup and delivery is shorter than 30 minutes, fresh produce (the majority of OzHarvest’s stock) might not require refrigeration, saving energy while maintaining food safety standards.

From the fleet manager

“It sometimes feels like we’ve only scratched the surface of Geotab’s solution offering, but it’s already been a massive help to us so far.”