Food waste solutions

Food waste is one of the biggest environmental problems facing our society.

First of all, let's start with some quick stats to put the problem into perspective: (Taken from the 2016-17 Food waste in England parliamentary report - https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201617/cmselect/cmenvfru/429/429.pdf)

• The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations estimates that a third of food fit for human consumption is wasted each year 
• Globally this means we produce 1.3 billion tonnes of food waste
• 10 million tonnes of this waste comes from England alone
• 60% of UK yearly waste could be avoided 

Our problems with food waste aren't simply down to people being frivolous and throwing away food for the sake of it. There is an element of that but, in reality, there are lots of challenges people face which contribute to unnecessary food waste - in combination with the fact many people aren't actually aware of how much food they throw out each week.

I thought I’d talk about what I found useful to reduce waste after doing some research in Southampton. My experience is fairly specific to rental properties or student halls as there are many barriers which stop people from using traditional methods such as compost heaps.

Here are some of the issues I encountered and what I’ve done (or thought about doing but not quite got round to doing...) to solve them.

Problem:

• Pre-packaged veg that either goes off too quickly or is too big a portion to reasonably consume before the use-by date

Solution:

• Try buying loose veg which is often cheaper (double points if you bring your own bag!). Loose veg means you can buy the exact quantity you need for a recipe so you aren’t wasting food that is often shipped around the world to be in our supermarkets. If, for example, your local supermarket doesn’t offer loose veg and one that does is too out of your way or budget, there exists a wealth of recipes online catering towards using up commonly wasted foods. A good example is https://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/recipes 

Problem:

• There is no food waste collection where you live

Solution:

• This is a difficult one. Whilst I want to tell everyone to try using their own composter and start an allotment fueled by their would-be-land-fill food waste - this is not an option for many people for a multitude of reasons. Really, the responsibility should be on government / local councils to mandate food waste collection rather than offering collections for a fee or not at all (I’m looking at you Southampton city council!!). 
• However, in most of the UK, this isn’t the case... So, I’d first look into alternatives in the form of local initiatives which might offer food waste collection - often listed on the council website. I know in Southampton there is an amazing University Hub initiative called BioCycle where volunteer students cycle around to collect other people’s food waste and take it to somewhere where it can be composted.
• Of course, if you want to try composting for yourself, go for it! I’ve found the cheapest bins to be either from local gardening/hardware stores, Poundland type places or amazon which has a good range for fairly good prices. One thing to keep in mind, however, is potential issues with rats / smells around compost if you live in a rented or shared property.
• BUT If that’s not your thing or you don't have a garden, that’s totally ok! Where you can make a difference is in activism. An easy form of this could be writing to your local council, MP, university halls etc. to ask why food waste collection doesn’t exist and what they are doing about it. If there’s enough demand from enough people, hopefully, they will consider implementing it!

Problem:

• Overestimating your weekly shop

Solution:

• This ones simple and something that works well from a financial, health and environmental point of view is meal planning. I don’t recommend you go overboard with this as it’s not always achievable or sensible. However, keeping a brief, realistic and flexible idea of what you want to eat each week rather than any specific plan is useful. I have a look at any recipes I've got saved and think about which days I'm going to be out for lunch - an easy way to avoid both food waste and the extortionate cost of a sandwich at the union shop! 
• Obviously, not everyone is as experienced as each other with cooking and meal planning. For people just starting out, I'd really recommend Jack Monroe's website: Cooking on a Bootstrap. Not only are the recipes affordable and tasty but, she also has a whole section for vegans!

Problem:

• Batch cooking food but not wanting to have the same dinner 3 times in a row

Solution:

• Your freezer is your best friend!! This is super obvious but it works especially well for anyone who does shift work or has a hectic schedule. The best feeling after a long day when you don't feel like cooking is knowing you have a wholesome curry or bolognese sitting there ready for you to heat up in a few minutes - AND you have the added knowledge that you saved a portion from going in the bin!

So, to summarise, the unpredictable nature of student life / shift work makes it hard to plan in advance so you won't always be able to save every last bit of the food you buy. Instead, the biggest change I made was simply being conscious of food waste, really thinking at every stage of the cooking process what I could do to minimise waste. From meal planning through to using up every last bit before the use-by, this is something we can all do.

So, again, my motto is, do what you can, be conscious of your personal impact and be kind to yourself - you're doing great :) 

Much love,

Bethany x

P.s I'll be following this up with another post on food waste and industry as it was far too much to put in one post!!