FLINTSHIRE County Council is asking you to look again at the food you buy and give it some food for thought this holiday season.
In the year to March 2022, we recycled almost 4,700 tonnes of food waste in Flintshire. This food waste is taken to an anaerobic digestion facility in Rhuallt where it is turned into biogas and bio-fertiliser. This produces electricity to power our homes and fertilisers for farmers to grow our food. To find out more on the process watch this short video.
Flintshire’s Cabinet Member for Streetscene and the regional transport strategy, Councillor Dave Hughes, said:
“It’s great that we are recycling food waste but we know that there is still a lot of food waste being placed in the black bin. Around one quarter of the waste put in the black bin is food which could be sent for recycling; however, we know most of this food is still in an edible condition!
“Given the environmental impact that growing, manufacturing, transporting and disposing of food can have on the environment, we need take action and there is no better time to start than at Christmas when we see a rise in recycling and waste every year.”
To help with planning and managing the amount of food we buy and eat the ‘Love Food, Hate Waste’ campaign has provided advice on simple steps we could all use to minimise the amount of food we waste. A guide to planning you weekly food routine can be found on their website Weekly Food Routine and Why Save Food.
If you do end up with excess food, please consider donating it to a local food bank or community fridge so that others in the community can make use of it. Please note only unused/unopened food can be donated to these facilities.
If you have food waste left you could consider composting it for use back in your garden as a soil conditioner. For a simple ‘how to’ please see our informative guide.
Lots of you are using the kerbside collection service for food waste but, if you are not, please start using it! Visit our website to find out where you can request food containers and bags from.
There are so many benefits to using the weekly food waste collection service which:
• Is more environmentally friendly way of waste disposal;
• Helps us achieve our national recycling targets;
• Minimises smells and odour from food waste rotting for two weeks in the black bin and reduces the risk of vermin.
Every bit of wasted food has an environmental impact – transport, fuel, water, energy – it all adds up. And while governments and businesses have an important part to play, 70% of food that’s wasted in the UK is done by us in our own homes. One-quarter of this, a staggering 1.1 million tonnes, is wasted every year simply because we prepare, cook, or serve too much.
Wishing all a very merry Christmas and happy and healthy New Year from the recycling team.
