A new non-alcoholic blueberry wine is not only tackling landfill waste but also supporting those experiencing homelessness. Developed by food charity OzHarvest in partnership with a major blueberry cooperative, this drink, called Conscious Drink, repurposes low-grade fruit that would otherwise be discarded.

Each week, the Oz Group cooperative donates 40 kilograms of second-grade blueberries to OzHarvest. This collaboration began several years ago when OzHarvest reached out to the NSW Mid North Coast-based cooperative for donations.

Louise Tran, general manager of OzHarvest Ventures, noted that these large donations sparked discussions about other ways to utilise the fruit for greater impact. The concept of a non-alcoholic beverage emerged from a collaboration with Kakadu Kitchen, an Indigenous-owned bushfoods company.

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Blueberries have a shelf life of 18 days when fresh, and those that don’t meet quality standards – such as those lacking colour, with defects, or broken – are sorted out by the cooperative’s automated system. Over the past four years, Oz Group has snap-frozen 10 tonnes of B-grade fruit annually, some of which is donated to OzHarvest. Any unusable fruit is either pureed, juiced, or mulched.

The initial batch of this non-alcoholic wine, which produced 2,000 bottles in time for Christmas markets, sold quickly. The strong demand led OzHarvest to reach out to restaurants, including the Sydney Opera House and locations in Melbourne, for a second batch. Production will ramp up in September to produce 13,000 bottles.

If wine isn’t your thing, OzHarvest has also collaborated with Waste Transition Focus (WTF) to create a refreshing Life Changing Lemonade. Every can of lemonade purchased helps OzHarvest provide one meal to someone in need.

Kakadu Kitchen x OzHarvest Conscious Drink starts at $30 and can be pre-ordered online here.

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