Food Waste

The amount of food you buy to minimise food waste, try to plan shopping trips in advance.  Also try to reduce waste by ensuring that the amount of food that gets put on each plate will be eaten.

More than a third of us go shopping without a list. Making a list saves time and money.  Shop with meals in mind and you’ll end up throwing less away.  Sixty percent of us end up throwing away food because it has passed its ‘use by’ date. Planning your meals with the ‘use by’ date in mind could save you money. More than half of households say they throw away food because they’ve cooked too much. Making delicious meals from leftovers is a smart way to make sure you eat everything you buy.

Can be recycled at: Kerbside: no Bring Sites: no Battlefield HRC: no

Recycle at home:

Home composting is the only means at present to recycle food waste. Kerbside collections of food waste are not currently feasible in the Borough due to a lack of available supporting infrastructure. Therefore the best way of recycling food scraps is if you home compost it.

An estimated 6.7 million tonnes of household food waste is produced each year in the UK, about half of which could have been eaten. Most of this waste ends up in landfill. Households throw away on average between £250 and £400 of potentially edible food each year. Why is food waste in landfill a problem?  When it goes into landfill it gets covered up very quickly so when it breaks down it does so anaerobically producing methane which is a potent greenhouse gas. Whereas if the waste is composted it is done so aerobically, as the waste is turned regularly to allow air in.

Fresh vegetables and coffee etc. are considered to be greens. They are quick to rot and they provide important nitrogen and moisture. Other things you can compost include cardboard egg boxes, scrunched up paper and fallen leaves. These are considered "Browns" and are slower to rot. They provide fibre and carbon and also allow important air pockets to form in the mixture.

You need to keep your Greens and Browns properly balanced. If your compost is too wet, add more Browns. If it's too dry, add some Greens. Making sure there is enough air in the mixture is also important. Adding scrunched up bits of cardboard is a simple way to create air pockets that will help keep your compost healthy. Air can also be added by mixing the contents. After approximately 6-9 months your finished compost will be ready.