This Food Waste Action Week (7th -13th March) Rhondda Cynon Taf Council is asking residents to think before they buy their weekly food shops and help us shape the food waste recycling scheme.
The Council has launched its Let’s Talk About Food Waste survey and is asking residents to take part and tell us what they think about food waste recycling and how we can all make a difference to reduce food waste and improve the service we offer.
Lost or wasted food accounts for a staggering 8–10% of total man-made greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
The UK’s second Food Waste Action Week will run from Monday 7 to Sunday 13 March 2021, and will bring together citizens and organisations from retail, manufacturing, local government, hospitality and across industry to demonstrate the impact of wasted food on people, on business, and on the planet.
The Council is asking residents to THINK about their food waste and only buy what they need when ordering or buying their weekly food shops - by thinking ahead they can reduce the food that they waste and ensure that they have the tools they need to recycle any unavoidable waste. Some food items are inedible e.g. peelings, egg shells, meat carcasses etc. These items can be recycled as part of the Council’s weekly kerbside food waste scheme.
The majority of RCT residents say they are now recycling their leftovers (84%) and on average over 11,000 tonnes of food waste is collected and recycled in RCT - which when converted into energy at the food waste recycling plant in Bryn Pica, Llwydcoed, generates enough energy to power over 1000 homes.
If you’re not already signed up, you can find more information at www.rctcbc.gov.uk/foodwaste.
Thanks to the Council’s food waste recycling scheme and the separate food waste bins, it’s clear to see just how much food we throw away every day.
By keeping check on the amount of food we waste, you can think about portion sizes and the weekly shopping list and cut down on the food you buy and waste and save money.
UK households waste 6.5 million tonnes of food every year. We’re not talking eggshells or chicken bones. We mean leftovers from your Sunday Lunch that you threw away, or your bread crusts – all stuff which could have been transformed into something delicious.
- We throw away 1.6 million untouched bananas every day.
- 1.3 million un-opened yoghurts each day.
- 600,000 whole uncooked eggs every day.
- 1.2 million un-touched sausages.
- 20 million slices of bread every day.
That’s a lot of sausage and egg sandwiches!
If everybody across the County Borough recycled their food waste, it would prevent 30% of waste going to in their black bags, as a third of what residents throw away is made up of food waste.
Councillor Ann Crimmings, Rhondda Cynon Taf Council’s Cabinet Member for Environment, Leisure and Heritage Services, said:
“The latest figures show that more residents than ever before are joining the food waste recycling scheme! We are delighted that so many people are seeing just how easy it is to recycle your food waste. However there are still some people who don’t recycle their food waste and we want to know how we can help them get on board – please take part in the survey so we can help shape the service and all make a difference to Climate Change together.
“We are committed to doing all we can to recycle as much as we possibly can and will continue to invest for the future to ensure we have high-quality vehicles and easy-to-use facilities that people rely upon to recycle.
“We have a dedicated food waste recycling plant right here in our County Borough, based in Bryn Pica, Llwydcoed, which sees more food waste than ever before being converted in to enough energy to power homes.
“We want to succeed in partnership with our communities, which is why we provide an effective weekly kerbside recycling and food waste collection scheme that is free of charge to use, as well as community facilities and ongoing education and awareness raising on the subject.”
For more information about the Council’s Food Waste recycling scheme and to order a food waste caddy visit www.rctcbc.gov.uk/foodwaste.
To take part in the Let’s talk food waste survey visit https://lets-talk.rctcbc.gov.uk/let-s-talk-food-waste-recycling.
Posted on 09/03/2022