Residents urged to start composting
The second annual Food Waste Action Week begins today (Mon 7 Mar) and borough residents are encouraged to play their part.
The week aims to raise people’s awareness of the huge impact of household food waste on climate change and share practical advice, food savvy behaviours and tips on how to easily reduce food waste at home.
The UK throws away 6.6 million tonnes of household food waste every year. This food waste is responsible for nearly 25 million tonnes of CO2 emissions, equivalent to 5.4% of the UK’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 for an average family with two children).
Love Food Hate Waste found that 81 per cent of UK citizens are concerned about climate change, but only 32 per cent see a clear link with food waste. This year, they found that the public's relationships with its freezers has become particularly frosty with many people not knowing how to safely freeze and defrost their food.
Councillor Karen Shakespeare, cabinet member for public realm, said:
Reducing food waste at home is a really easy way all of us can play a part in reducing the impact of climate change.
People can also make a difference by composting their food waste. Vegetable peelings, apple cores, tea bags – these can all go into your composter, while food scraps, cooked food, meat and bones can be composted in a green johanna. We are working with Great Green Systems to offer our residents up to 40% off home composting equipment, just check our dudleyrecycles for more information.
Sarah Clayton, Love Food Hate Waste, 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.
Find out about composting and local offers https://www.dudleyrecycles.org.uk/composting
To order a discounted composter, green johanna, tumbler and other composting resources visit to https://www.greatgreensystems.com/council-offers?promotions-dudley
Notes to editor
The figure of 25 million tonnes CO2e is based on the total household food waste of 6.6 million tonnes (including edible inedible parts).
Love Food Hate Waste aims to raise awareness of the need to reduce food waste and help the UK public act. It shows that by doing some easy practical everyday things in the home we can all waste less food, which will ultimately benefit the environment, and our pockets too. Love Food Hate Waste is managed by WRAP.
WRAP is a global NGO based in the UK. It is one of the UK’s top 5 environmental charities and works with governments, businesses and individuals to ensure that the world’s natural resources are used more sustainably. It is the charity leading the UK Plastics Pact (a world first), Courtauld Commitment 2030, Textiles 2030 as well as the citizen campaigns Love Food Hate Waste, Love Your Clothes, Clear on Plastics and Recycle Now. It also runs Food Waste Action Week and Recycle Week in the UK. WRAP works collaboratively and develops and delivers evidence-based, solutions to reduce the environmental cost of the food we eat, the clothes we wear and the plastic packaging we use. Founded in 2000 in the UK, WRAP now works with partners in forty countries, across six continents and is a Global Alliance Partner of The Royal Foundation’s Earthshot Prize.