The UK throws away 9.5 million tonnes of food waste in a year, whilst 8.4 million people are living in food poverty. This isn't just a UK issue, this is a global environmental issue that needs to be resolved.
Food waste can include:
- By-product food waste – peels, trimmings, and liquids of food from the manufacturing processes.
- Expired products – Food that has passed its sell-by date. Expired and soiled food in shops/bakeries/cafes are immediately thrown away at the end of the day.
- Leftovers – This is food leftover from you household, restaurants, or food preparation.
Food waste can contribute towards landfill and erosion of the O zone layer as the food releases a methane gas as it breaks down and decomposes. This methane is 25 times more harmful than carbon dioxide as it can trap heat within the atmosphere.
Don't worry, we understand making changes can be challenging, so let's begin with the small changes:
- Meal prep – Meal prepping can help you plan out your meals for the week, avoiding as much waste as possible, this also helps to save money.
- Buy only what you need – If possible, buying only what you need can reduce food waste, you can always pop to the shop again if you run out of a certain ingredient.
- Share leftovers with friends, family, and colleagues – You could bring in your leftover food to work or give it to you friends and family to avoid it going in the bin.
- Join a food waste exchange platform – There are apps where you can share your unwanted food with people from your town or city. Check out the link below.
- Swap your pennies for expiring food – There are also apps where you can rescue food from going to landfill from shops, restaurants, and cafés. Here are seven food apps to explore.
- Donate excess packaged food to local food banks – Visit your council website to find where your nearest food bank is, the food must not be expired or tampered with.
- Give back to the Earth – Consider composting your fruit, veg and salad peelings. Here's our compost blog to get you started.