Food Waste to Food Empathy

I’ve often spoken about food waste and could continue to do so for the rest of my life, this is primarily down to the fact that our food supply systems are broken, and a shocking one third of all the food we produce ends up as waste before it even hits the shops.

When we talk about bridging the gap - this is clearly a social issue as well as an environmental one.

In terms of impacting the environment - when food waste ends up in landfill, which due to poor waste segregation is often the case - it produces methane, a gas that is far more damaging than carbon dioxide.

It currently accounts for between 8 - 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions however, we are forgetting the energy it takes to produce this food, the water required and the land destroyed to grow it. As I said - it is not a straightforward figure when it comes to its cycle of life and the greenhouse gases it produces along the way.

These are the global figures of food waste, but what about  for us mere mortals at home? As the cost of living for households continues to rise - people are needing to become more savvy and aware of the money they are spending - be it on energy - or the food that they eat.

I recently read somewhere that people who spend more on food - as in the quality - are less likely to waste the food. They have seen the connection between purchasing - consumption and then waste. They are essentially, greening their own supply chain.

…”research by GIY shows food growers develop food empathy, which has a profound effect on other grocery items, including reducing how much meat they buy and making other sustainable purchasing choices.” 

https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2021/1119/1261934-food-waste-study/ 

But if we do have to throw away food - we also need to pay for its removal

Something we always ask our clients to do is a task that is less than desirable, but getting down to the nitty gritty of your bins is vital to understanding what is going in there.

For the next week - why not observe your food bin and see what is making up the majority of this waste? If you truly understand what you are putting in the bin, you can then make informed decisions to reduce this waste.

Here are some tips to reduce food waste:

1. Vegetable trimmings - pop them in a freezer bag and next time you’re making a soup of any flavour - add them! Broccoli stems, asparagus stalks etc.
2. Banana peels - composting your food waste might seem too much of a challenge right now, but why not start with a couple of items like these peels? Green fingered people the world over rave about the exceptional fertilizer that can be created for plants both indoor and out! (https://thegardenmagazine.com/8-uses-for-banana-peels-in-the-garden/ )
3. If you drink coffee - the weight of those grinds can really add up! These can be a great addition as a fertilizer - just make sure you avoid plants who don’t like acidity.
4. Plan your weekly menus before you head to the shops, believe it or not planning meals in advance and buying only the ingredients we need to cook those meals is the simplest way to reduce food waste.
5. Fermentation is also an age-old but fantastic way to prevent food waste - for example if you see a vegetable about to go south, or if you have an overabundance of a particular crop in your garden - get pickling! Irish chef Conor Spacey (@spaceychef) has some excellent advice when it comes to the world of fermentation - give him a follow!

The key thing is to start familiarizing yourself again with the food that you purchase, consume and throw away. Particularly in the lead up to Christmas - these coming weeks can often see people fall victim to over consumption and essentially - buying too much food.

We need food to survive, but we need to re-think the relationship of convenience we have created with food in the past 20 years and enhance our food empathy as a society.

Make This Simple Organic Banana Peel Fertilizer for a Healthy Garden (stonefamilyfarmstead.com)

Coffee grounds in your garden, the pros and cons

Are Coffee Grounds Good For Plants? (10 Pros and Cons) - Perfect Brew