Reduce food waste
It’s important to make sure food and drink containers are clean and dry before going in your recycling. If any food ends up in your recycling it can make other recycling dirty, like paper and card, which then means it can’t be recycled. So, if you put any food in your recycling, it’s not just your recycling that could be ruined, you could contaminate an entire lorry full of recycling.
Love Food Hate Waste (LFHW) estimate UK households throws away 6.5 million tonnes of food every year, 4.5 million tonnes of this could have been eaten, which is enough to fill 38 million wheelie bins!
In Herefordshire over a third of the rubbish in the average black bin is food waste and its packaging.
Did you know, 30% of global greenhouse gasses come from producing our food. Simply wasting food feeds climate change as more energy is required to grow additional food and transport it to the supermarket shelves for us to buy. The more food we waste the more lorries are needed to collect and dispose of the rubbish.
We all need to do our bit to reduce food waste and the impact it has on the environment. Only buying the food we need and eating all that we buy is a great start.
LFHW has lots of top tips on how to reduce your food waste, store items so they last longer and tasty recipes to use your leftovers.
If you do have food waste make sure you’re reducing it as much as possible and put any you do have in your black bin.
Top tips for reducing food waste
You can make some simple changes to save yourself money and reduce food waste.
Plan your meals
- Planning meals can help you only buy what you need, use tins that are hiding at the back of the cupboard and create fabulous meals from your leftovers. This means that you less likely to buy additional food and end up wasting it.
Write a shopping list and store your food correctly
- Check your cupboards, search your fridge and use your meal plan to write that list. Shopping lists help you have a clear idea of what you need when you go to the supermarket.
- When you bring that food home, make sure you store it correctly to make it last longer. Remember that the freezer is your friend.
Keep an eye on your portion size
- Use the handy LFHW portion planner to ensure that you cook the right amount for you and your family.
Get creative with left overs
- Left overs are just an opportunity to get creative with tomorrows lunch or dinner. For some local inspiration and some great recipes head over to Talk Community.
What’s going on locally
Herefordshire is a thriving county when it comes to food production with many local businesses creating a link in the national and international food chain.
Excellent work is being done to raise awareness of the problems caused by food waste across the county.
The Herefordshire Food Charter that has been developed by the Herefordshire Food Alliance, and a network of individuals and organisations from across the county involved in local, community and sustainable food action.
As an individual or business you can sign the charter and commit to doing your bit to help tackle the issue of food waste!
Food has a massive impact upon our targets of achieving zero carbon by 2030 visit Herefordshire Zero Carbon and Nature Rich to find out more.