Christmas time is typically a time when we prepare and eat lots of delicious food…but why waste it? Many people are unaware that food waste is a significant contributor to climate change due to the methane, a potent greenhouse gas that builds up in landfills. In addition, all the resources and energy that went into the production and transportation of the food we throw out will be wasted. These are important reasons to keep food waste to a minimum.(1)
Avoid, reduce and reuse:
Plan your festive feast if you love food but hate waste, leftovers can be eaten cold or are easy to re-heat the next day – you’ll be able to put your feet up on Boxing Day, which is also National Leftovers Day! Saving leftovers for Boxing Day is the number one way Aussies claim to reduce waste at Christmas according to Planet Ark commissioned research. (2)
A bit of portion control, letting people serve themselves and storing leftovers properly all help reduce food going to landfill and your food bill! Cooking too much food is one of the main reasons food goes to waste.(3)
Serve more vegies, have a positive impact on your celebrations. As a general rule meat has a larger environmental impact in its production than fruit, vegetables and grains. It’s also easier to compost your own fruit and vegetable scraps at home through your compost bin or worm farm.(4)
Ronnie Kahn, founder of OzHarvest provides four easy steps we can take to help achieve this goal.
LOOK at what’s in your fridge and pantry before going shopping for more;
BUY only what you need. So make a shopping list;
STORE that food properly, so it doesn’t go off too soon; and,
COOK it and also the leftovers.
Compost
Compost your fruit and vegetable scraps in your own compost bin or worm farm.
Place ALL food scraps, unwanted left-overs or spoilt food in your Food and Garden organics/FOGO (green lid) bin for composting.
East Waste Councils (except for some regional areas) and most metropolitan councils accept food scraps in the green bin. However not all councils accept food in the green bin so check with your Council first.
References:
1-4: Planet Ark’s 12 Do’s of Christmas; #6 http://12dos.planetark.org/12dos/do6.cfm