MoreThanWaste.com - Walloping Waste through BBC Good Food Show (30/11/2007)

"We are looking forward to meeting everyone at the show, especially at this time of year, when we’re all thinking more about the meals we’re preparing over Christmas, and how many people we need to cater for"

Julia Falcon, Love Food Hate Waste Project Manager

Banbury, Oxon., England: The “Love Food Hate Waste” campaign came to the BBC Good Food Show in Birmingham this week to meet the public and raise awareness of the huge issue of food waste.

The ‘Love Food Hate Waste’ team from WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme), launched their campaign on 1 November and will be at the show to spread the message

The new Government backed campaign revealed that the UK is discarding an amazing third of the food we buy in the UK – most of which could have been eaten. This statistic follows pioneering research undertaken by WRAP which shows that the equivalent of one in every three bags of food shopping we bring home, effectively goes straight in the bin.

Sharing ideas is an important part of the campaign and visitors to the stand can add a favourite tip on reducing food waste, at the ‘Add your Voice’ video booth, or try out the live website www.lovefoodhatewaste.com at stand H60.

Food waste

The Women’s Institute, well known for their war on packaging, have also got involved. The WI’s vast knowledge of food, planning and cookery expertise will help them, with support from WRAP, to launch a community project called ‘Love Food Champions’ early in the New Year. The project will involve local members offering practical advice and tips to families, across the country.

The Women’s Institute is the largest women’s organisation in the UK with more than 211,000 members in 6,800 WIs. The charity campaigns on issues that matter to women and their communities from children’s diets and human trafficking to healthy eating and the environment.

“WI members have a vast amount of experience when it comes to food preservation and making sure nothing goes to waste. We want to share this knowledge with others and are excited to be undertaking a project that will help others in our communities to save money and prevent unnecessary waste” says Fay Mansell, NFWI Chair.

Julia Falcon, Love Food Hate Waste Project Manager explained

“We are looking forward to meeting everyone at the show, especially at this time of year, when we’re all thinking more about the meals we’re preparing over Christmas, and how many people we need to cater for”.

“People tend to find it tricky cooking the right amount of food for their guests, and this is where we can help – we’ve got some great tips on portions, and also how to make the most out of the food we buy for the festive season.”

Key facts from WRAP

In the UK we are throwing away one third of the food we buy. That’s like one in three bagfuls of food shopping going straight in the bin.
We throw away 6.7 million tonnes of food each year in the UK, when most of this food could have been eaten. (Its not just peelings and bones –its good food).That’s equivalent to filling Wembley Stadium with food waste 8 times over!
In terms of environmental impact – producing, storing and getting the food to our homes uses a lot of energy. If we stopped wasting all this good food (food which could have been eaten), it would save the equivalent of at least 15 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. That’s like taking 1 in 5 cars off UK roads.
Most of this food reaches landfill sites where it emits methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.
High economic cost - £8bn worth of food thrown out. That’s the cost to our pockets as consumers. UK householders are throwing out on average £400/year.
We throw food out for two main reasons: we cook or prepare too much; and we let food go off.
90% of people unaware we waste so much food. But when we tested this with a food diary, most people wanted to take action – that’s why WRAP has launched a brand new campaign to help.

Further information

The BBC Good Food Show runs until 2 December 2007

For more information on the Love Food Hate Waste campaign, visit: www.lovefoodhatewaste.com

Key findings of WRAP’s recent research on the nature, scale and causes of household food waste can be found at: http://www.wrap.org.uk/retail/food_waste/index.html

More information on all of WRAP's programmes can be found on www.wrap.org.uk


	Walloping Waste through BBC Good Food Show (30/11/2007) "We are looking forward to meeting everyone at the show, especially at this time of year, when we’re all thinking more about the meals we’re preparing over Christmas, and how many people we need to cater for" Julia Falcon, Love Food Hate Waste Project Manager Banbury, Oxon., England: The “Love Food Hate Waste” campaign came to the BBC Good Food Show in Birmingham this week to meet the public and raise awareness of the huge issue of food waste. The ‘Love Food Hate Waste’ team from WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme), launched their campaign on 1 November and will be at the show to spread the message The new Government backed campaign revealed that the UK is discarding an amazing third of the food we buy in the UK – most of which could have been eaten. This statistic follows pioneering research undertaken by WRAP which shows that the equivalent of one in every three bags of food shopping we bring home, effectively goes straight in the bin. Sharing ideas is an important part of the campaign and visitors to the stand can add a favourite tip on reducing food waste, at the ‘Add your Voice’ video booth, or try out the live website www.lovefoodhatewaste.com at stand H60. Food waste The Women’s Institute, well known for their war on packaging, have also got involved. The WI’s vast knowledge of food, planning and cookery expertise will help them, with support from WRAP, to launch a community project called ‘Love Food Champions’ early in the New Year. The project will involve local members offering practical advice and tips to families, across the country. The Women’s Institute is the largest women’s organisation in the UK with more than 211,000 members in 6,800 WIs. The charity campaigns on issues that matter to women and their communities from children’s diets and human trafficking to healthy eating and the environment. “WI members have a vast amount of experience when it comes to food preservation and making sure nothing goes to waste. We want to share this knowledge with others and are excited to be undertaking a project that will help others in our communities to save money and prevent unnecessary waste” says Fay Mansell, NFWI Chair. Julia Falcon, Love Food Hate Waste Project Manager explained “We are looking forward to meeting everyone at the show, especially at this time of year, when we’re all thinking more about the meals we’re preparing over Christmas, and how many people we need to cater for”. “People tend to find it tricky cooking the right amount of food for their guests, and this is where we can help – we’ve got some great tips on portions, and also how to make the most out of the food we buy for the festive season.” Key facts from WRAP In the UK we are throwing away one third of the food we buy. That’s like one in three bagfuls of food shopping going straight in the bin. We throw away 6.7 million tonnes of food each year in the UK, when most of this food could have been eaten. (Its not just peelings and bones –its good food).That’s equivalent to filling Wembley Stadium with food waste 8 times over! In terms of environmental impact – producing, storing and getting the food to our homes uses a lot of energy. If we stopped wasting all this good food (food which could have been eaten), it would save the equivalent of at least 15 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. That’s like taking 1 in 5 cars off UK roads. Most of this food reaches landfill sites where it emits methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. High economic cost - £8bn worth of food thrown out. That’s the cost to our pockets as consumers. UK householders are throwing out on average £400/year. We throw food out for two main reasons: we cook or prepare too much; and we let food go off. 90% of people unaware we waste so much food. But when we tested this with a food diary, most people wanted to take action – that’s why WRAP has launched a brand new campaign to help. Further information The BBC Good Food Show runs until 2 December 2007 For more information on the Love Food Hate Waste campaign, visit: www.lovefoodhatewaste.com Key findings of WRAP’s recent research on the nature, scale and causes of household food waste can be found at: http://www.wrap.org.uk/retail/food_waste/index.html More information on all of WRAP's programmes can be found on www.wrap.org.uk