Let them eat cake – not! (From Times Series)

Let them eat cake – not!

11:45am Monday 7th July 2008

• Print
• Email
• Share

In a Marie Antoinette-eske moment the Prime Minister suggests the answer to families coping with rising food prices is for them to plan the meals ahead and stop wasting food. The Prime Minister has a point that we do throw away a massive amount of food, but I’m not sure suggesting people can reduce the cost of living by throwing away less is the best way of getting people on your side.

The green bins which the Council provide are very popular, but still predominantly collect garden waste. Food waste collection is increasing, but we need to increase the amount of food waste recycled. Not many people know the Council provides wormeries and composters – all helpful in turning food waste in useable biodegradable compost, amongst other things.

I recycle food waste, but must confess that whilst the black box is often full to overflowing with paper and jars, the green bin is often less well utilised especially for food waste. Why? Perhaps scraping the dinner plates into the green bin remains unattractive and it certainly feels less pleasant. That’s why I am looking forward to the kitchen caddies we are rolling out later this year. Hopefully it will make recycling food waste more ‘user friendly’.

Recycling food waste helps with the problem of waste but, of course, it doesn’t deal with the major problem and that is the vast quantities of packaging. The Council has stringent targets for increasing recycling of domestic waste but ‘Trade/Commercial waste’ is outside our remit; a big gap in the efforts to recycle more. In addition, food manufacturers seem intent on shrink wrapping or encasing in plastic bigger and bigger portions. Not only does this add massively to the amount of packaging going into the trade waste, but customers end up buying more than they need and throwing it away.

So the Prime Minister has a point but one of the major culprits in causing food waste – the manufacturers and supermarkets - need to be tackled too.

• Print
• Email
• Share