Leeds City Council is proud to support the Love Food Hate Waste campaign. It raises awareness of why we need to reduce the amount of food that we throw away, and how this benefits us all.
How much food do we waste?
The figures might surprise you. Research done by the Waste Resources Action Programme (WRAP) show that around a third of all the food we buy in the UK ends up being thrown away. While a small amount of this waste isn't edible (e.g. meat bones) there is plenty of good food that could have been eaten.
How much money is wasted?
Research shows that the average household spends £420 on food per year that wasn't eaten. In Leeds this works out at just over £14 million on food that wasn't eaten each year.
Does wasted food impact badly on the environment?
The answer is a definite yes.
In the UK we throw away 6.7million tonnes of food each year and much of this wasted food ends up in landfill sites. Approximately 70,000 tonnes of food waste in Leeds.
This contributes to climate change in two ways.
1. The rotting process of organic material releases methane and carbon dioxide into the air. These are understood to be big causes of climate change across the globe. In the UK, landfill sites create around three per cent of all the emissions of these gases.
2. Producing, transporting and storing food uses a lot of energy, water and packaging. Each part of the process creates harmful climate change gases, for example lorries transporting goods from farms to supermarkets.
If we all stop wasting food that could have been eaten, the carbon dioxide impact would be the equivalent of taking 1 in 5 cars off the road.
Quick and easy steps to help you reduce food waste
- Plan what you are going to eat, when you will eat it and how many you are cooking for
- Before you go shopping make a list
- Make sure you store food correctly
- You can compost fruit and vegetable peelings
- Use up your leftovers
- Take care with 'buy one get one free' type offers
- Use your freezer - you can freeze bread, cheese, raw and cooked meat, and cooked food that you have left over.
For more information about Love Food Hate Waste or for some great recipe ideas visit the Love Food Hate Waste website.