Bin's advice - How she increased rescued meals by 110%

Did you miss the chance to get to know Bin yesterday? Catch up on her story here 👉 Meet Bin.

Every day across Australia, tonnes of surplus food is donated to charities and food rescue organisations. It’s a well meaning act that’s not just about generosity but also about giving food that’s safe, fresh, and usable.

But when Belinda Barnier (Bin) stepped into her role at OzHarvest Canberra, she found that a significant portion of donated food couldn’t actually be served.

So how did Bin turn that around and nearly double the number of meals delivered to people in need?

The advice:

💡If you want people to truly understand, don’t just tell them. Show them.

Now here’s the story behind the advice.👇

When good intentions fall short

Good intentions don’t always make good meals.

A study conducted by Curtin University analysed approximately 85,000 kilograms of food donated to Foodbank Western Australia. Out of 72 total donations, 27 included products classified as unsafe or unsuitable for consumption. 18 of those came from supermarkets.

Bin saw this play out firsthand. Her team would arrive at supermarkets to collect their food donations only to find food that couldn’t be used because it was expired, damaged, or improperly stored.

But the donors didn’t have bad intentions, they just didn’t know better.

The wake-up call

Bin didn’t just want to help the donors understand the problem, she wanted them to care enough to change.

One day, she approached one of the General Managers (GM) at a supermarket to thank him for the generous and ongoing donations. 

The GM wanted more than pleasantries. “Tell me the good, the bad and the ugly,” he said.

So Bin walked him to the back of the store to the collection area where the donated food was waiting for pickup. Then she pointed at it and asked him one simple question:

“Would you feed this to your family tonight?”

He didn’t say much. But what he did say said it all.

A few weeks later, to further demonstrate the value of rescued food, Bin invited 20 store managers to a hosted lunch. 

But this wasn't just any lunch. It was a chef-prepared feast cooked entirely from food that would have otherwise been thrown away. 

The menu? A fragrant vegetarian risotto with asparagus, made with stock from strained onion peels followed by a rich berry meringue.

At the end of the meal, Bin confidently told the managers: “This all came from your stores.”

The message landed.

What had once felt like a favour became something more deliberate, thoughtful and valued.

The donors became more mindful of variety—adding more fresh produce, dairy, protein, and meat—and ensured everything was safely stored and within its use-by date.

As awareness grew, so did the quality.

And with quality came volume. 

Bin’s approach increased the amount of food being rescued and delivered to Canberra charities between 2020 and 2024 from 580,000 to 1,222,000 meals a year.

Why showing beats telling

Bin wasn’t trying to shame anyone. She was trying to educate. And she understood something a lot of leaders overlook:

Showing is a powerful way to help people see why your mission matters.

The store managers weren’t handed a list of donation guidelines. They were invited to sit, eat, and experience the potential of rescued food and the impact of better donation habits.

And that’s what stuck.

Bin’s story proves that if you want to influence, don’t just tell, show. So here’s your next move:

👁️ Show the impact. Instead of doing more explaining, create a moment where your team, partners, or stakeholders can see the stakes for themselves.

🥣 Make it tangible. Find a way to turn your mission into something people can touch, taste, or experience. What would your version of Bin’s lunch look like?

🪞 Shift from obligation to ownership. People don’t commit to checklists, they commit to meaning. Invite them to care, not comply.

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