food waste Archives

Are you looking to reduce food waste at home and play your part in conserving the environment? You’re in the right place. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll walk you through some simple steps you can take to curb waste and how composting can be a game-changer.

Why It’s Important to Reduce Food Waste

When you reduce food waste, you’re not just saving money; you’re also: Helping Combat Climate Change (decomposing food in landfills produces methane, a harmful greenhouse gas); Conserving Resources (wasting food means wasted water, energy, and labour that went into its production); and Supporting Ethics (with millions hungry, reducing food waste is a step towards a just society).

Easy-to-Follow Tips to Reduce Food Waste

Know Your Needs: Plan meals to ensure you only buy what you’ll consume.
Smart Shopping: Always use a list to avoid unnecessary purchases.
Decode Expiry Dates: Learn the difference between “use-by” and “best before” dates.
Store Smart: Proper food storage extends shelf life. For instance, keep bananas away from other fruits to avoid over-ripening.
First In, First Out: Use older items before new ones.
Serve Sensibly: Avoid oversized portions which lead to leftovers.
Love Leftovers: Reuse them in new dishes or as tomorrow’s lunch.
Embrace Imperfections: Buy “ugly” produce; they taste the same!
Preserve More: Freeze, dry, or can extra food.
Whole Food Approach: Use every edible part of the food, like broccoli stems.
Avoid Buffet Traps: At buffets, take only what you’ll eat.
Donations Work: Share excess food with those in need.
Spread Awareness: Talk about the importance to reduce food waste.
Go Local: Support local markets to reduce transport waste.
Monitor & Adjust: Keep track of what you throw away and adjust your habits.

The Composting Connection

Composting is an integral part of the solution to reduce food waste. Starting a compost bin at home allows you to recycle kitchen scraps, turning them into nutrient-rich soil additives. For effective composting, it’s essential to maintain a balance between ‘greens’ (nitrogen-rich materials) and ‘browns’ (carbon-rich materials) to ensure optimal decomposition. This rich compost not only enriches garden soil, making it more fertile, but it also helps the soil retain moisture more effectively, reducing the need for frequent watering. Furthermore, by composting, we significantly reduce the volume of food waste that would otherwise head to the landfill.

In Conclusion

To reduce food waste is not only an economic choice but an environmental and ethical imperative. Couple that with composting, and you have a holistic approach to sustainable living. Start with one tip, and gradually incorporate more into your routine. Every step counts in our collective effort to reduce food waste and create a greener planet.

Our composting facility here at Waste Wise is a beacon of sustainable waste management, transforming organic waste into nutrient-rich compost, promoting both waste reduction and environmental preservation. As the article underscores the significance of minimising food waste and the advantages of composting at a personal level, Waste Wise showcases this on a larger scale. Our innovative composting techniques mirror the easy tips provided, offering a real-world example of how these practices can be amplified to manage waste efficiently and sustainably in commercial settings.

Wastewise has secured an initial three-year contract, to handle the mixed garden and food waste for the Derby city area, which is home to over 257,000* residents. The deal, worth around £2.5m, provides an efficient solution for the combined collection of approximately18k tonnes per annum of kerbside collected garden and food waste, which will be handled at the Wastewise In-Vessel Composting facility in Crewe.

“We are very pleased to confirm this new contract with Wastewise which will allow us to continue to drive forward our waste and recycling agenda and help residents of Derby dispose of their waste in a sustainable way,” comments Councillor Jerry Pearce, Cabinet Member for Streetpride. “We were impressed with the level of technology deployed to achieve the high standard of composting on site. This cost-effective service will help us to increase recycling rates, including food waste, across the city.”

Wastewise operates three composting facilities across the North of England processing over 200,000 tonnes per annum of organic waste, including food and garden waste. The 18k tonnes of waste from the Derby City area will further optimise capacity at its Crewe plant.

“At Wastewise we promote the use of sustainable waste treatment methods to help achieve zero waste to landfill. We are delighted to support Derby City Council via this new contract which will further add to our output of peat-free compost. An environmentally responsible and cost-effective method, composting is nature’s way of recycling organic waste,” comments Bob Wilkes, Operations & Development Director.

Co-mingling of organic waste materials is a simple and effective solution for councils across the country to maximise the collection of food and garden waste. Whilst composting does not enable the recovery of renewable energy or gas per se, it does provide important greenhouse gas benefits, both directly through use of a single collection vehicle, by preventing the release of methane from landfill and indirectly through improved soil health.

Following a very successful 18 months of growth, Hull-based Wastewise continues to work on broadening its waste-processing infrastructure, which includes materials recycling, biomass and alternative fuel production facilities.