Many homes have now got on board with recycling waste in the home. However many people do not realise that one of the biggest waste products going is food waste! Each year the UK produces more than 7 million tonnes of food waste. This waste ends up going into landfill, using valuable space and decomposing which produces tonnes of methane which escapes into the environment. This can be simply changed if people learnt how to reduce and recycle their food waste. By following these simple tips you will discover how to reduce your food waste dramatically.
Use Less Food
This may seem like a simple solution, but many people do cook far too much food which just ends up going in to the bin. If you only cook what is going to be ate this will not only be cheaper for you as you will be buying less, but a massive contribution into helping the environment.
Only Buy What You Need
When you enter a supermarket, you will often find many different offers on trying to persuade you to buy more than you need. Usually these ‘Buy one get one free’ or ‘Buy 2 get the third free’ offers just end up going to waste, due not being needed or going past their use by date. Usually if you buy in bulk you will end up with more waste.
Buy Frozen Food
Many people buying frozen food is not as good as buying fresh food, however it is much better to eat fresh frozen food, than fresh vegetables which have been sitting around for a week. You can keep frozen food for weeks, if not months but fresh food you can only keep for short periods of time. One of the biggest food waste, is fresh food.
Recycle
Some councils now offer homes a food waste bin or container, if you haven’t then you should phone your local council and see why not and if they are planning on sending one soon. Most councils now offer a wide variety of recycling services so you should find out how they are planning on helping you.
Use Leftover Food
Instead of going to throw your left over food straight into the bin, you should firstly consider what you could use the rest of the meal for. Many meals you are able to put in a container and freeze it, or store it for work the next day. There are many dinner and left over food recipes available online for you to find.
By getting better waste management over your food, you will discover that there is no need to produce so much food waste and can also end up saving yourself some money!
George works on behalf of www.slrconsulting.com/ helping businesses and homes find ways to reduce their waste.