Gardiner asks people to cut down on Food Waste
Sam Gardiner, Ulster Unionist Environment Spokesman, has appealed for people to look closely at their patterns of food consumption following a Government body on Waste management reported that in the UK 6.7 million tons of food is dumped each year.
The Upper Bann Assembly Member wants people to try and reduce their overall food purchases and to try and manage their food supply better.
“Buying too much food leads to dumping of waste food and this has a major environmental impact. “Wrap” – the Government’s waste management body, has estimated that the average household throws away one third of all the food it buys. This is losing most households 15% of their spending money – money which they would have available to spend on other things if they exercised a bit more care in their buying of food. That’s 15 pence in every pound which is going straight into the bin.”
“20% of Britain’s carbon emissions are related to the food production, food processing, transporting food and storing food. Most of our waste food is dumped in landfill sites, where it breaks down producing harmful greenhouse gases. This is bad news for the environment.”
“If people managed their food purchases better then this would enable each and every one of us to contribute a little towards improving the environment. This is not a nanny state kind of thing. It is just asking people to plan this together as a family. Look at your weekly purchases, itemised on your till receipts, make a list of what you did not use and then see how much you could save. Then, as a family, decide what you could have spent it on if you had not wasted it. Believe me, it is a worthwhile exercise. It makes you look at the weekly shop differently.”