Food Waste Action Week is WRAP’s flagship annual campaign from the Love Food Hate Waste initiative, uniting governments, communities, charities and businesses to help tackle food waste.
The campaign encourages people to take simple, practical steps to help food go further – saving money, reducing waste and making the most of the food we buy.
Each year, millions of tonnes of food are thrown away from UK homes, much of which could have been eaten. In total, around 4.4 million tonnes of edible food are wasted every year, generating around 16 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions. The cost of this waste is estimated at £17 billion annually – roughly £1,000 a year for a family of four.
With families around the county feeling the pinch of rising costs, reducing our food waste is one of the simplest ways your household can save money, and it's better for the environment too.
This year’s campaign theme is “Make your food go further: for your pocket, for our planet.” The message encourages people to get more value from the food they buy by planning meals, storing food properly, using leftovers and making the most of ingredients before they go to waste.
Throughout the week, Love Food Hate Waste will be sharing helpful tips and ideas to help people save time, reduce waste and make every day cooking that little bit easier.
The Lincolnshire Waste Partnership is supporting Food Waste Action Week by sharing practical tips from WRAP and the Love Food Hate Waste campaign to help residents make the most of the food they buy. While the best place for food is always on our plates, not wasted, the Partnership is also preparing households for the introduction of weekly food waste collections in parts of Lincolnshire from March. These new services will provide residents with food waste caddies so that any unavoidable food scraps — such as peelings, bones, eggshells and tea bags — can be recycled. Collected food waste will be taken to an anaerobic digestion plant in Lincolnshire where it will be turned into clean energy and fertiliser for agriculture, ensuring that anything that cannot be eaten is still put to good use.
Cllr Danny Brookes, Chair of Lincolnshire Waste Partnership and Executive Member of Environment at Lincolnshire County Council, said: “Food Waste Action Week is a great reminder that small changes in our kitchens can make a big difference. By planning meals, storing food properly and using up leftovers, we can all help our food go further and save money at the same time.
“At the same time, we know that some food waste is unavoidable. With new food waste collections starting in parts of Lincolnshire this spring, residents will soon be able to place those unavoidable scraps into their food waste caddies so they can be recycled into clean energy and fertiliser. Together, reducing food waste where we can and recycling what’s left helps us make the most of the food we buy.”
Dr Sam Hubble, Specialist for Food System Transformation at WRAP, said: “Eat what you buy, and love every mouthful. It’s a win-win: it’s saving money, it’s saving resources, and it’s a simple thing that we can all do to save the planet. Food needs to go in bellies, not bins.”