Published: 16/11/2023
Food waste is bad for the planet because it contributes to climate change and wastes precious resources. When we throw away food, we also throw away the water, energy, land and transportation that were used to produce it.
Food waste accounts for one-third of all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions and generates 8% of greenhouse gases annually. This situation is bad enough, but it gets worse when we don’t dispose of our food waste correctly by using our food caddies. If food waste is placed in your general waste bin, it is sent to incineration and means the opportunities for reclaiming the bio materials are lost.
Tackling climate change often feels out of reach, but this is an area where as residents and a council we can collectively make a real difference. If we think of food in the same way as we do about plastics, this is a resource that shouldn’t be wasted but reused and transformed.
Ideally we want to just buy what we need and reduce the amount of waste in the first place, Love Food Hate Waste have lots of tips and inspiration to help you get more out of the food you buy, to save you money and help the environment. However when we do have left over food and peelings, if these are separated into our food waste bins (food caddies) and uncontaminated e.g. by packaging, the nutrients can go to farms as compost to grow new food, regenerating soils and reducing reliance on artificial fertilisers and also creating bio fuels in the composting process. A neat bio-cycle!
Kent County Council have a video available on their Youtube Channel showing the journey of your food waste once collected in your food caddie.
By preventing food waste, we can reduce our environmental footprint and help fight climate change together.
For further information and a deep dive into the impact of food on climate and sustainability this article from Ellen MacArthur Foundation might be of interest.
