Love Food, Hate Waste

A website I find interesting is the NSW EPA's love food hate waste. It's an initiative run by the state Environmental Protection Agency in conjunction with partners from retailers, manufacturers, local government authorities and community groups. Its a site of frightening statistics about the amount of good food we waste in this state every year and its impact on our environment. However it's not designed to give you nightmares or a guilt complex but solutions on how to get the most from the food you buy and how to waste less of it.

Its based on a campaign of the same name, developed in the UK in 2007, by the Waste and Resources Action Program. (WRAP)

Let me share some of the statistics:
 This is a break-down of food we throw away and send to landfill:

Fresh Food                                                   $848 million
Leftovers                                                      $694 million
Packed and long life foods                          $372 million
Drinks                                                          $231 million
Frozen Food                                                 $231 million
Takeaway/Home delivered                          $180 million

That's 800,000 tonnes of food each year. When food is left rotting with other organics in landfill it gives off methane which is 25 times more potent than the pollution that comes from your car exhaust. These statistics are from NSW alone!! Each year NSW households throw out over $1000 worth of edible food.

Australians overall discard up to 20% of the food they purchase - that equates to 1 out of every 5 bags of food they buy.
Up to 40% of the average household bin is food.

These statistics are mind boggling. Its disgusting really.

Just think of the production costs and transport costs  - the "food miles". Good grief its just madness!

However as I said, the initiative is not just about horrifying statistics - its about solutions. Finding better ways to buy, cook and save your food and in turn doing the planet and yourself (and your bank balance) a favour. Its an easily navigable site, with lots of tips, recipes, as well as how to use the leftovers,downloads for shopping and menu planning, as well as insight into the issues arising from such waste.

It's definitely worth a look.

www.lovefoodhatewaste.nsw.go.au