Stevenage Borough Council unites with Food Waste Action Week to break the cycle
The second annual Food Waste Action Week organised by The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), begins today, Monday 7 March. It will raise people’s awareness of the huge impact of household food waste on climate change and share practical advice, behaviours and tips on how we can all easily reduce the food we waste in our homes.
Love Food Hate Waste is keen to show that used properly, the freezer is the king of the kitchen. In fact, freezing and defrosting just three key meat items that are commonly not used in time (fresh chicken, bacon and sausages) could reduce waste of those items by as much as 15,000 tonnes per annum. And, when it comes to defrosting, busy households can avoid a lengthy overnight defrost by using their microwave instead – as people use a toaster to defrost sliced bread from the freezer.
For great ways to help defeat food waste in your home, please visit the Love Food Hate Waste website
The second annual Food Waste Action Week organised by The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), begins today, Monday 7 March. It will raise people’s awareness of the huge impact of household food waste on climate change and share practical advice, behaviours and tips on how we can all easily reduce the food we waste in our homes.
We throw away 6.6 million tonnes of household food waste a year in Britain. This food waste is responsible for nearly 25 million tonnes of CO2 emissions, equivalent to 5.4 per cent of Britain’s territorial emissions.
The majority, 4.5 million tonnes is food that could have been eaten and is worth approximately £14 billion (or £60 a month an average family with two children). It requires an area almost the size of Wales to produce all the food and drink currently wasted in Britain.
If food goes into landfill, it will soon generate methane; a greenhouse gas over 25 times more harmful to our environment than carbon dioxide. We must act to stop this to get Stevenage to net zero emissions by 2030.
Love Food Hate Waste runs an annual survey of people’s habits and knowledge around food waste. This highlighted that 81 per cent of people in Britain are concerned about climate change, but only 32 per cent see a clear link with food waste.
The survey helped to inform the theme of the Week and the development of materials to motivate people to act. This year, Love Food Hate Waste found that the public’s relationship with its freezers has become particularly frosty with many people not knowing how to safely freeze and defrost their food.
Sarah Clayton, Head of Citizen Behaviour Change at WRAP, said, “Getting to grips with freezing and defrosting are big factors in preventing food from going to waste at home. At a time of rising food prices alongside huge public concern about climate change, tackling food waste at home is one way we can all make a difference and save money. For the average family with children, the cost of binning food can be more than £700 per year. So, Food Waste Action Week is all about avoiding being savvy in how we store but then use our food.”
Love Food Hate Waste is keen to show that used properly, the freezer is the king of the kitchen. In fact, freezing and defrosting just three key meat items that are commonly not used in time (fresh chicken, bacon and sausages) could reduce waste of those items by as much as 15,000 tonnes per annum. And, when it comes to defrosting, busy households can avoid a lengthy overnight defrost by using their microwave instead – as people use a toaster to defrost sliced bread from the freezer.
For great ways to help defeat food waste in your home, please visit the Love Food Hate Waste website