Vale families rise to the council’s food waste challenge
Four local families have volunteered to take part in the Vale
of Glamorgan Council’s food waste challenge.
The challenge encourages residents to take steps to reduce the
amount of food they throw away and, with many of us throwing away
between £250 and £400 of potentially edible food each year,
everyone can benefit from joining in.
In addition to being a huge waste of money, wasting food also
contributes to the estimated 6.7 million tonnes of household food
waste which ends up rotting in landfill every year.
Over the next four weeks, the volunteers will be doing all they
can to reduce the amount of food they waste. Help will be on hand
from the council’s waste management department in the form of
advice on shopping, meal planning, recipes to use up leftovers and
home composting.
The Medley family from Penarth are one of the households taking
part and are a great example of how easy it can be to reduce the
amount of food you waste. Mum Jacqui said: “We already recycle but
since signing up for the food waste challenge a few simple changes
have almost halved our weekly rubbish. We now have a caddy in the
kitchen for our fruit and vegetable peelings and used tea bags,
which we empty into a compost bin in the garden. I have also
reduced the amount of food we are wasting by keeping a stricter
watch on what’s in the fridge, which is also saving us money. This
has made a massive difference to the amount that goes into the
black bags and that's great for the environment!"
The Vale Council's waste awareness officer Helen Ball urges
everyone to try and reduce their food waste. She said: “Many of us
are unaware of the amount of money we are wasting on food and, as
our challenge families have already found, by making simple changes
such as using a shopping list to ensure you only buy what you need,
and keeping an eye on ‘use by’ dates can make a huge difference to
the amount of food wasted.”
Caption: The Medley Family from Penarth have
started collecting their food waste in a kitchen caddy ready for
composting. Pictured here are Mum Jacqui and her 15-year-old son
Michael.