WR2Reduce and Manage Food Waste

According to the charity Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) the UK produces around 6.6 million tonnes a year of household food waste - enough to fill Wembley Stadium. This accounts for 25 million tonnes of CO2 emissions, 5.4% of the UK's overall emissions. WRAP said 4.5 million tonnes of that wasted food could have been eaten and is worth approximately £14bn.

Producing food requires significant resources including land, energy and water. If food waste were a country, it would be the world’s third largest emitter after China and the USA.

Using leftovers, plan meals and freezing food can help to minimise the generation of food waste. All unavoidable food waste, such as tea bags, banana skins etc, that is collected as recycling from homes can be turned into fertilisers for agriculture or converted into natural forms of energy as an alternative to fossil fuels.

Currently, SBC provides a green kitchen caddy to be used as resident's own indoor container, and a brown wheeled bin to collect all food and garden waste.

Besides recycling food waste through the council's services, local residents can also buy discounted compost bins through WasteAware to transform kitchen and garden waste into a valuable and nutrient rich food for the garden. Find out more at Home Composting (stevenage.gov.uk).