High food waste is difficult to swallow
A call is going out to Warwickshire’s residents to think about their food shopping after a study revealed that households are throwing away about a third of the food they buy.
Households are both wasting cash and sending hundreds of tonnes of waste to landfill in Warwickshire, and Cllr Martin Heatley, Warwickshire County Council’s Portfolio Holder for the Environment, says this should stop.
He said: “Wasted food is currently making up about a fifth of all the rubbish we are throwing away, so even a small reduction in households would have a significant impact in the total amount.
“An awful lot of the waste being thrown away is cooked and prepared food, where meals have simply been too large, so thinking about portions could be one simple way to cut down on what we throw away.”
Cllr Heatley was responding to a report from Government waste body WRAP. The report found that many items such as tea bags and vegetable peelings are being thrown directly into waste, but also discovered that out of every £1 spent on food that about 16p is simply wasted food, either through preparing too much, or by allowing fresh vegetables, fruit and bread to go bad.
Cllr Heatley added: “Composting is an excellent way to eliminate some of the food waste we are currently sending straight to landfill. Warwickshire County Council offers subsidised compost bins at £10 for a 330 litre bin and £8 for a 220 litre bin. Both can be delivered free to your door by calling the compost bin order line on 0845 073 2001. Each householder can order up to three bins for delivery to their home address.”
For more information on recycling visit http//www.warwickshire.gov.uk/wastewise