News
New waste campaign gives thought for food
This feature was added on 27th August 2009
The Hertfordshire Waste Partnership and Tesco are working together to encourage local residents to cut back on the amount of food they throw in the bin.
The project will be launched on September 2 as part of the Love Food Hate Waste campaign, in association with environmental campaign group WRAP. It aims to raise awareness among local people about how they can save money and help the environment by reducing unnecessary food waste.
Every year in the UK, 6.7 million tonnes of food is thrown away by UK households. This ends up in landfill, producing greenhouse gases and also costs the average family as much as £420 a year.
Most of the food that is thrown away falls into two categories - cooked food that hasn't been eaten and uncooked food that has gone past its use-by date.
“The sheer scale of food waste in the UK is all the more shocking because it could so easily be avoided with a little thought and planning - which is the message that we want to get across in this partnership project with Tesco,” said Derrick Ashley, Executive Member for Waste.
“There will be plenty of tips and ideas at the roadshows, but people can start right away with something as simple as planning their shopping and meals so that food doesn't exceed its use-by date, and freezing leftovers so they can be used later on.”
To support the campaign, Tesco will be allowing a number of their stores to be used for a series of special events to promote food waste minimisation. This will include a series of roadshows during September where shoppers will be able to pick up tips on how to cut down their food waste in line with the 'Four Rs' (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Recover) of waste.
Wednesday 2 September 2009 - Potters Bar
Friday 4 September 2009 - Hatfield Extra
Friday 4 September 2009 - Bishops Stortford
Friday 4 September 2009 - Hemel Hempstead
Wednesday 9 September 2009 - Baldock Extra
Wednesday 9 September 2009 - Borehamwood Extra
Thursday 10 September 2009 - Royston Extra
Friday 18 September 2009 - Watford Extra
Wednesday 23 September 2009 - Ware
Representatives of the Hertfordshire Waste Partnership will also be 'dishing out' -
- Advice on the meaning of 'best before', 'display until', and 'use by' dates
- Suggestions about what to do with left-over food, with the help of recipe cards
- Bag-clips to encourage shoppers to store left-over food and spaghetti measures to help with portion control
- Information on home composting as an alternative to putting food in the bin, for occasions when waste is unavoidable.
Tesco spokesman Jon Church said: “We're happy to support this campaign and are looking forward to showing families across the county just how they can save money and help the environment by reducing unnecessary food waste."
Shoppers will also be able to take part in the Love Food Hate Waste Survey, which the Hertfordshire Waste Partnership has been running throughout the summer.
Tesco has provided space for WasteAware to display posters at their six automated recycling centres for the duration of the project - and are already displaying the WasteAware logo as a banner link on the Store Locator page of their website.
More information about the LFHW campaign can be found on www.lovefoodhatewaste.com