Christmas dinner alone creates a mountain of waste – including peelings from 240 million sprouts, 105 million potatoes and 20 million carrots across the UK. Once buried underground, food waste rots and produces methane – a powerful greenhouse gas which is 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide. We need to reduce the amount of waste that goes to landfill, as it is not only harmful to the environment, but becoming increasingly expensive. And wasting food also means wasting money.
So how can you reduce food waste and save money this Christmas?
Keep an eye on the dates on your food – use up the shortest dates first and, when shopping, check whether food can be frozen in case you don’t get round to eating it in time. ‘Best before’ dates are a guide to quality, so you can eat foods, such as crisps and biscuits, after the best before date. ‘Use by’ dates are for safety – you can eat and freeze foods right up to the use by dates, but not beyond.
Don’t know how much to cook for your guests? Visit www.lovefoodhatewaste.com for the dinner portion and party portions calculator. And if you do make too much, make the most of your leftovers with everything from turkey sandwiches to bubble and squeak or a turkey and chickpea coconut curry. Check out www.lovefoodhatewaste.com for recipe ideas.
Careful storage can extend the life of your food. Ensure your vegetables are fresh for Christmas dinner by keeping them in the fridge. Most vegetables will stay fresher for longer stored in the fridge in the pack or bag they came in.
Most Christmas leftovers will keep for up to two days if well wrapped in the fridge, or can be frozen to enjoy at a later date.
Why not start home composting? It’s a great way of disposing of uncooked food waste (excluding meat and fish) and, if you start now, you should have compost for your garden by the summer.
Prices for compost bins start from £12 plus £5 delivery charge. For more details visit www.recycleforgloucestershire.com
Gloucestershire County Council has a strategy to recycle and compost at least 60% of household waste by 2020. In Gloucestershire this year alone, we are expecting to pay £7 million in Landfill Tax. The county has strict landfill targets to meet up until 2020. Exceeding these steadily reducing quantities will result in fines of up to £150 per tonne for every tonne of biodegradable waste in excess of our allowance.
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