BDR Waste Partnership

The very first national Food Waste Action Week takes place from 1st to 7th March aimed at highlighting the link between wasted food and climate change.

While 81 per cent of people in the UK say they are concerned about climate change, only 37 per cent think wasting food is contributing to climate change.

But new figures released by waste reduction charity WRAP reveal the true extent of the damage food waste causes to the environment.

Wasted food accounts for more global greenhouse gas emissions than flying. And if everyone in the UK stopped wasting bread for a year, it could do the same for greenhouse gas emissions as planting 5.3 million trees.

Almost three quarters of food waste takes place in our homes, and each year UK households throw away 4.5 million tonnes of food that could have been eaten. If food waste was a country, it would have the third biggest carbon footprint after the USA and China!

Food Waste Action Week is backed by UK governments and local councils and the campaign is being run locally by the BDR (Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham) Waste Partnership and Renewi, the firm behind the award-winning waste treatment facilities at Manvers.

Manvers-based Community Education Liaison Officer, Abi Cox, said previous Love Food Hate Waste campaigns had successfully reduced the amount of food waste thrown away in Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham by as much as seven per cent.

“Our last intensive campaign was in 2017, but since then food waste figures have been creeping up.  Our latest analysis of binned food waste shows that 39 per cent of our general waste in BDR is currently made up of food, almost three quarters of it edible or drinkable when it was thrown away.

“This is where we can all make the biggest difference to both the planet and our wallets because it costs the BDR councils more than £2m a year to dispose of avoidable food waste. This is in addition to more than £170m BDR households are spending on food which is thrown away.

“Each of us can make small changes – saving one slice of bread, one potato, one drop of milk – they all add up to make a big difference for us and our planet.”

WRAP and Abi’s team are throwing out a challenge to households across Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham to see if they can get through Food Waste Action Week without wasting ANY food.

Top tips include portion planning, careful shopping, better storage, understanding ‘use by’ and ‘best before’ labels, getting creative with leftovers, using every bit of foodstuffs and making the most of your freezer.

Watch out for Wasting Food Feeds Climate Change campaign adverts in the media and on vehicles. You can also follow it on twitter @WasteLessSYorkshire and on Facebook @WLSYorks.

Note to Editors:  The BDR Waste Partnership is made up of Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham councils and 3SE, a consortium of Renewi, an international waste-to-product business and SSE, one of the UK’s leading energy companies.

The waste treatment facility at Manvers processes around a quarter of a million tonnes of leftover waste a year from 340,000 homes across Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham, turning it into useful products rather than sending it to landfill.

For further information contact Abi Cox or Rebecca Wilson on 07814 302297 or abigail.cox@renewi.com rebecca.wilson@renewi.com