Food Waste

Around a third of all food we buy ends up being thrown away and most of this could have been eaten.

Ninety per cent of us just don’t realise how much good food we throw out, yet in the UK we throw way 6.7 million tonnes of food each year. It is thought that on average, people waste between £250 and £400 per year on food that they never eat.

It’s not just an issue of good food going to waste, that costs us as consumers a significant amount of money, but that there are serious environmental implications.

All the resources, production, transportation and storage of food items are completely wasted when we throw away perfectly good food. This leads to the ‘unnecessary’ production of around 15 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions.

If we stopped wasting all this good food, we could have a huge impact on the environment, the equivalent of taking 1 in 5 cars off UK roads.

How much food do we throw away in Bracknell Forest?

An analysis of waste was carried out in 2007 and results showed the following food wastage still in the bins:

Leftover non-compostable food - 15%
Leftover compostable food - 11%
Unopened food - 5%

Why don’t you collect food waste for recycling?

Food waste can only be processed using a special composting process and is very expensive. There are no local processing plants available to the Council at present. Green Cones are available.

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How can we reduce food waste?

Home composters could be used in the majority of homes with gardens to reduce a significant, proportion of this wasted food. Find out more about home composting.

Alternatively, a food waste digester could be used. There are two types: the Green Cone reduces food waste to its natural components of water, carbon dioxide and a small residue. The solar-heated garden unit takes all cooked and uncooked food waste including meat, fish, bones, dairy products, vegetables and fruit. And the Green Johanna 'Hot' composter will compost two parts cooked or uncooked food waste (including meat, fish, bones, dairy products, vegetables and fruit) to one part garden waste and produces a rich compost all year round. This is "Hot" composting.

Bracknell Forest Council is subsidising Green Cones in 2008 and 2009. You'll also find home composters and items for composting and soil improvement at:

www.greencone.com or
www.wigglywigglers.co.uk/shop and
worm composters from www.originalorganics.co.uk.

“Buy One Get One Free” offers contribute to over-purchasing of food we are unable to consume and this may be why 5% food found in landfill bins was unopened.

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‘Best Before’ Dates

Sometimes people are confused by “best before” and “use by date” labels.

'Best Before' dates refer to quality rather than food safety. Foods with a ‘best before’ date should be safe to eat after the ‘best before’ date, but they may no longer be at their best. One exception is eggs; never eat eggs after the ‘best before’ date.

‘Use By’ Dates

Never eat products after the 'Use By' date, and always follow the storage instructions. However, check to see if the food can be frozen if you need to eat it at a later date. Visit the Food Standards Agency website for more information about food dates at www.eatwell.gov.uk

Where can I find out more about reducing food waste?

Visit the www.lovefoodhatewaste.com website for tips, recipes and much more. Alternatively, you can call their helpline if you have any questions on 0808 1002040.