The impact of food waste
In the UK we waste as much as 10 million tonnes of food a year, 70% of which is wasted in homes. Producing food requires vast amounts of natural resources. Globally the food system, including production, transport, and waste, generates 25-30% of all total greenhouse gas emissions. Reducing food waste is therefore one of the most important things we can do to help protect the environment.
Most people don't even realise they waste food, but in reality 30% of north London's waste is made up of food. On average 1 in 5 bags of food we buy is wasted, which wastes an awful lot of money too. Therefore, by reducing your household food waste you could save you up to £800 or 140 meals per year.
Every day in the UK we waste 5.8 million whole potatoes; 24 million slices of bread; 1.4 million edible bananas; 5.8 million glasses of milk; 0.5 million bags of salad leaves.
Eat Like a Londoner
NLWA is part of the London-wide Eat Like a Londoner campaign which helps people to tackle food waste in their homes and make sustainable changes to their diets. Head over to their website for low-waste recipe inspiration, tip and tricks!
Bin Less, Save More
As part of our commitment to delivering our Waste Prevention Plan, we have developed an outreach programme to compliment the Eat Like a Londoner movement: the Bin Less, Save More challenge. Highlighting the link between avoiding food waste and saving money, we aim to teach people how to buy, plan for, store and cook food in ways that can help the average household save up to £1000 a year!
Come and join us for a session full of helpful advice on how to reduce the amount of food waste you produce, some goal-setting and a cooking demonstration with a free meal of plenty of delicious waste-free food for you to try.
You'll also be invited to take part in our food waste monitoring challenge, where we'll ask you to weigh your food waste for 1 week before and 4 weeks following the workshop and send us the results to be in with a chance of winning a £150 high street voucher.
Workshops currently planned are:
- Somers Town Community Centre, 150 Ossulston Street, NW1 1EE | 18 November 2024 | 18:30 until 20:00
- Our Yard at Clitterhouse Farm, Claremont Road, NW2 1AP | 27 November 2024 | 18:30 until 20:00
Visit our events page to book onto a workshop - limited spaces available!