Love Food Hate Waste
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Food For Thought....
Our shopping habits have changed considerably from 20 or 30 years ago.
Today, we think nothing of picking up fruit or vegetables that are wrapped in plastic, stocking up on two for one offers, or being too generous with our portions and simply throwing what's left away.
All the food that goes in your bin ends up going to landfill, which has a huge impact on the environment. Greenhouse gasses are released into the atmosphere from rotting food as well as leachate, which could potentially pollute water courses and surrounding countryside.
Currently UK residents are throwing away around 6.7 million tonnes of food each year. That’s like buying three shopping bags worth of food and throwing one away; it sounds incredible when you consider that most of the food that we end up throwing away have been eaten but that’s exactly what we’re doing right now.
By wasting food we are literally wasting money!
What can I do?
Buy local produce: Consider how your food was transported to the seller and the impact on the environment this will have. Try a local farmers market. Buying locally from farmers markets will often mean a reduced amount of packaging on your food too. Much of the food bought in supermarkets comes in packaging such as plastic trays and cellophane which can’t be recycled.
Stay away from Buy One Get One Free offers - Unless you really are going to use both! If you do buy extra, make sure food can be frozen and if you can, write the date it was frozen on the packaging. Most items will have a label showing the recommended maximum freezing time. If you find something lurking in your freezer that's been in there for months and months, did you really need to buy it in the first place? Or share your extra shopping with a friend or relative.
Choose organic products - these have less impact on the environment and the more people who choose organic produce the cheaper it will become. Many supermarkets now have organic ranges, but again, check the labels, and where you can, buy British! You'll also be supporting our farmers. Alternatively, investigate one of the box schemes where organic foods are delivered to your door. The Soil Association has a list of useful numbers on their website. Their book ‘The Organic Directory’ is also available by post, from bookshops and in the Central Library.
Compost what you can - Some food waste is inevitable such as vegetable peelings, fruit scraps, tea bags and egg shells. But these needn’t be wasted either with the help of a compost bin or wormery. Visit our compost and wormery pages for more information.
North East Derbyshire District Council is proud to support the Love Food Hate Waste Campaign!
It has never been more important to consider our shopping and food preparation habits. We hope by supporting the campaign and encouraging home composting it will have a really positive effect, firstly on the environment and secondly on our residents wallets!
Love Food Hate Waste is aimed at getting us to reduce the amount of waste food we send to landfill. The website can show you how to cook the right portion sizes for your family to make sure you're not throwing food away unnecessarily.
What do I do with leftovers?
The website has a long list of foods which are the most likely culprits to be left over in your fridge and plenty of recipe ideas for how to use them up. New recipes are added all the time, so there's no reason for throwing those left over vegetables or over ripe bananas away. It even has a two week meal planner to help you make sure none of the food you’ve bought goes to waste.
So visit the website and learn to love food but hate waste!
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