Stevenage's residents encouraged to save on food waste

Stevenage Borough Council is supporting the #WorthSaving campaign which aims to tackle the issue of avoidable food waste by encouraging residents to follow 4 Steps to Save on food waste, and save money by developing better habits.

By signing up, via email, to receive hints and tips on making the most of your food for five weeks, and taking part in two quick surveys, residents could win a cooking experience and meal out, paid for by WasteAware.

The campaign follows a study in 2020 by the Hertfordshire Waste Partnership which showed that around 24% of the rubbish in Hertfordshire’s refuse bins was made up of food that could have been eaten.

New signage supporting the #WorthSaving campaign has been fitted to the sides of SBC’s refuse and recycling trucks.

Councillor Simon Speller, Portfolio Holder for Environment and Climate Change, said:

"At a time when household budgets are being stretched by rising costs, including the increases in food prices, it’s more important than ever to reduce the food we throw away. On top of rising living costs, we continue to receive stark warnings and local examples of what the climate crisis will mean for us all. Reducing your food waste is a really simple, cost saving way to live more sustainably and help us reach our net-zero targets”.

Wasted food has a huge impact on the environment, wasting all of the land, fertiliser, transport, water, and more needed to grow the food. Wasted edible food generates around 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

By following WasteAwares' simple 4 Steps to Save on the #WorthSaving website, residents can find lots of simple tips to reduce food waste at home.

To find out more and enter the prize draw, visit the WasteAware WorthSaving website and sign up to the #WorthSaving challenge to receive weekly tips and guidance on how to reduce food waste over the course of five weeks.

Complete the survey before and after the challenge to enter the prize draw – terms and conditions can be found on the website.

Four Steps To Save

Plan – check what you have

• Stock check
• Plan your meals
• Write a shopping list

Shop – buy what you need

• Avoid impulse buys
• Stick to your list
• Don’t shop when you’re hungry
• Substitute - swap food items when a store doesn’t have the item you need for a recipe

Store – in the best way

• Dates and labels
• How to correctly store food (right place for each food item)
• Fridge / freezer temp
• How to safely freeze and defrost food

Eat – what you have

• Choose to eat / cook with ripe food first
• Portion sizes
• Freeze excess food for later
• Eat your leftovers
• Use-up night
• Recipes for spare ingredients
• Batch cooking