Waste Not Want Not?
Last week Gordon Brown called for the general public to stop wasting food in order to stop the dramatic increase we have seen in food bills over the last year. Every year Briton’s waste approximately 4 million tonnes of food; this adds roughly £420 each year to each family’s shopping bill. In the current economic climate this is money many families can ill afford.
Previously in The Green Issue we have discussed the devastating impact that this vast amount of waste has on our decreasing landfill space; now however, Gordon Brown has highlighted the fiscal cost of this careless waste.
A recent food policy study showed that there is a huge discrepancy between the percentage of income families spend on food; varying from 15% for the wealthiest to 7% for the poorest families in society. Those on lower incomes were also shown to spend proportionally more on basics such as milk, bread and eggs. Despite the percentage of income we as families spend on food, however, each household, on average, still throws away approximately £8 of useable food per week, that’s £416 per year! In the current financial climate that is not a figure to be sniffed at.
Gordon Brown, though, has been painting a bigger picture with these figures; looking not at the financial impact this waste is having on individual families, moreover, the affect it is having on the economy as a whole.
Food prices are high because, among other reasons, demand exceeds supply. The food that we all waste is included in the equation- meaning we demand the food that we then waste which causes an increase in price of the food we actually do need!
The wastage of edible food is not restricted to just being within our homes, however. In the production, transportation and sale of food produce, vast amounts of edible food are also wasted. The Cabinet Office report claims that 40% of food harvested in developing countries can become lost before it is consumed; this is due to inadequacies in the processing, storage and transport of these foods.
The problem of wasting perfectly good food is becoming an increasingly heated debate; as the demand for food continues to exceed to available supplies wasting such copious amounts of edible food becomes ludicrous, if not even sickening.
Rather than focusing on homeowners, the government should perhaps consider increasing the pressure on big businesses and organisations to reduce their food waste. Supermarkets not only persuade people to buy more perishable food than they need through buy one get one free offers, they also dispose of an extortionate amount of edible food themselves. If we buy less unnecessary food demand should decrease and therefore prices should not rise at such an alarming rate, as well as reducing the price of your own weekly shop by approximately £8. Not bad, eh? But pressure needs to be put on large corporations to reduce their waste; the impact of this will be significantly greater, Mr. Brown.
Under the Sink…
In the mission against household waste, directly on the frontline facing the vast amount of food waste we dispose of every year, is the humble compost bin. Now, however, it is easier than ever to transform what would be waste in to a useful and nutritious food for your garden.
Kitchen food waste accounts for up to 25% of all our household waste, and if there is no outside space many people struggle to find any alternative to throwing this waste in to the normal household rubbish, which would then end up on landfill.
It is possible, however, to keep any various different waste disposal systems underneath your sink in order to dispose of any unwanted food that is a by-product of food preparation.
Primarily there is the option of an under sink waste disposal unit. These units work by removing waste quickly and effectively. The food waste is ground down in to particles and is then flushed away through the normal waste pipe system; creating a substantial reduction in the amount of waste going to landfill.
This process can also aid recycling, as once the waste is processed it is then turned in to soil conditioner at the plants where all the waste from our homes is treated.
These units are ideal for households who have little or no outdoor space, or those that have no inclination to use their food waste for their own gardens. Just because you do not want to compost your food waste does not necessarily mean that it needs to end up on landfill; where biodegradable materials release vast quantities of greenhouse gases, such as methane and carbon dioxide. Any alternative is better than filling our ever decreasing landfill spaces with material that could otherwise be put to good use.
Under sink waste disposal units can be fitted in most kitchens, for a small initial outlay, and can last a number of years- reducing your families waste by up to 25%.
Studies have discovered that these waste disposal units provide a cost-effective, convenient and hygienic method of disposing of food waste and preventing it from going to landfill with other household waste. It has also been suggested that this method of disposal is more environmentally friendly, as it a smaller global warming potential, than roadside collection of biodegradable materials followed by centralised composting.
You can dispose of much of your kitchen waste via a waste disposal unit; vegetable peelings, food leftovers, tea bags, eggshells, fruit skins and crusts. You can dispose of cooked foods through an under sink disposal unit, and the more powerful the unit you purchase, in general, the more you can put through it. At present, this is the most publicised way of disposing of all household kitchen waste, including cooked food that cannot be put in a traditional compost bin. However, over the coming weeks, we will examine a number of products that Green By Nature are developing that will enable you to dispose of all your kitchen waste, including meat and cooked products, within your own home! Keep your eyes peeled…
Visit www.greenbynature.co.uk for more news and to buy green products!
