Dacorum Borough Council’s Love Food, Hate Waste challenge is back for its sixth year, helping residents reduce food waste and save money.
Annually, UK households waste 4.5 million tonnes of edible food, which amounts to around £700 for an average family per year.
As well as the cost, this is a huge waste of resources and additional methane produced when the food enters the waste system.
This matters because methane is a potent greenhouse gas up to 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation reports that 30 percent of agricultural land is used for food which is eventually wasted, while eight percent of manmade greenhouse gases come from food waste, almost equivalent to global road transport emissions.
The challenge aims to help residents reduce their food waste through regular guidance in the form of top tips to limit avoidable food waste in everyday life, recipe ideas and a food waste diary to keep track of progress.
Participants in the challenge who complete both the pre-challenge and post-challenge surveys will be entered into a prize-draw to win an eco-friendly food storage set worth over £40.
More than 120 Dacorum residents completed the challenge last year, with 83 per cent feeling it helped reduce food waste in their household and 98 per cent saying they were likely to share what they’d learned with their friends or family.
One of last year’s participants said: “Everyone should participate in this challenge. It really made us think about our food consumption, our meals and portion sizes. We’ve started to look at food packaging and storage and we’ve tried new recipes to look at what needs using up. We have reduced how much we are throwing away and it’s made us conscious of putting scraps in the correct bin.”
This year’s challenge coincides with the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) which will be taking place in Glasgow on October 31 – November 12.
As part of COP26, countries are being asked to set ambitious 2030 emissions reductions targets to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees.
Taking part in the Dacorum Love Food Hate Waste challenge is a simple step residents can take to play their part in helping to achieve this COP26 goal.
The less food wasted, the less methane enters the atmosphere which will help to reduce the extent of global warming.
The Dacorum Love Food, Hate Waste Challenge will run from Monday, November 1 to Monday, November 30 2021.
To register, email recycle@dacorum.gov.uk with your full name and address.
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