According to the National Food Waste Baseline, Australia currently produces 11.3 million tonnes per annum of food waste and diverts 3.9 million tonnes to animal feed. Of the remaining 7.3 million tonnes, up to 60% of the wastage is avoidable by directing it to food rescue and animal feed. These are currently the only two destinations that count towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 12.3 of halving food waste by 2030 under the Australian National Food Waste Strategy.

A considerable proportion of the cost of rearing pigs in Australia is related to feeding. In Australia, pig feeds are predominately based on cereals and cereal by-products, pulses and (or) oilseeds, rendered animal products, and dairy products (for young pigs). There is currently some use of manufacturing and dairy waste streams in the pork industry, but by and large, the use of other forms of recycled food waste, which potentially has a significantly lower input cost than other feed ingredients, is limited. It is estimated that currently, only 10-20% of Australian herds are accessing manufacturing waste, largely due to a lack of business to business awareness.

In countries like Japan and South Korea, feed costs have been reduced by 40-60% against standard feed by the use of treated mixed food wastes. In Japan, the Ecofeed (animal feed made from recycled food waste scraps and leftovers) industry has been successfully and safely producing nutritious feed for pigs from surplus food for over 15 years. It is a global pioneer in this field, currently recycling 52% of food industry surplus into animal feed.