Food Waste Action Week 2021
Monday 1st until Sunday 7th March 2021 marks the first national Food Waste Action Week in the UK. Initiated by WRAP (Waste Resources and Action Programme), a UK based sustainability charity, the week-long event will aim to raise awareness of food waste across the country.
When we think of the biggest threats to the environment, fossil fuels, deforestation and plastic come to mind. The half a sandwich you threw away yesterday, or the banana which you put in the bin because it was just that tiny bit too soft, might be the last thing to pop into your head. In fact, food waste is one of the biggest contributors to global warming, and while it seems that throwing away some bread passed the ‘best before date’ can’t hurt anyone, The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations estimate that one third of food produced for human consumption is wasted globally, amounting to approximately 1.3 billion tonnes each year. This contributes to 8-10% of manmade greenhouse gases – a shocking amount which is so easily reduced! The achievability of reducing our food waste is highlighted by the fact that since 2007 food waste has reduced from 11.2 million tonnes to 9.5 million tonnes in the UK. This is really encouraging, and should motivate all of us to make that reduction even greater, and collectively reach the UN Sustainable Development Goal of halving per capita global food waste by 2030!
The intention behind WRAP’s Food Waste Action Week is to ask everyone to be more conscious and mindful of their own individual food waste habits, for at least that week. We will all be joined together in that week, working as a team to reduce waste and increase awareness nationally and internationally. We might discover some surprising results, and decide to break old daily habits and start new, more waste-conscious ones once the week is over!
“Wasting food is a major cause of climate change – it generates more greenhouse gas emissions than all the commercial flights in the world. We know through our research that the climate change emergency matters to people so this is something we can – and must – act on together. It is time to focus on saving one of our most precious resources instead of generating greenhouse gases producing food that is never eaten. I’m delighted to be launching the first UK Food Waste Action Week in March, and to have such strong support from our partners across sectors. Together we will inspire real and lasting change. Food Waste Action Week gives organisations a unique opportunity to capture their customers’ attention as part of a national event and help them to play their part in eliminating food being wasted and tackling climate change.”
- Marcus Gover, CEO of WRAP
During the week, we at Green Alternatives UK will be posting a Food Waste Action Week tip of the day each day on our Eco Hints and Tips page on the website and social media so make sure to check them out! To get involved yourself, make sure you are using #FoodWasteActionWeek and tagging @lfhw_uk in your social media posts to help spread the word and also share any useful tips you have come up with to reduce your food waste!