Food Waste Audit Diary May 2019

tighteningthebelt

Hi gt568 and Linda32, yes even the inedible and compostable counts, and its a really interesting issue isn't it. I didn't make the rules. i did put a bit more detail in the first post. i think the main problem is using the word waste, which is a moral word, rather than rubbish, which most of it is. I get where they're going with it, and it's good for us to think, but if the foundation of the figures is false then it's just going to annoy people. Better they get the biogas things sorted out and collections, which is something we cannot organise as individuals...
The latest media stuff is saying 10.4 million tons in the uk per year, with 7.4 million coming from households rather than anywhere else. hmmm.

Anyway today's results
2 for breakfast, two for tea, one for lunch
100g unavoidable in the form of 3 teabags, 1 apple core, 2 orange peels. everything else was cooked up yesterday.

i can't explain the bran flake... it just appeared!! honest guv!

[Deleted User]

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth wrote: »

One way to reduce waste is only buy what you are going to cook!

One way? It's the only way. Once you've bought what you can't eat, the writing is on the wall: it's going to get wasted.

Don't buy what you can't eat, don't cook what you can't eat.

My total waste for the whole 2018/19 financial year:
Egg: 56g
Chicken breast: 119g
Coconut: 482g
Onion: 514g
Parsnip: 100g

HelenPetersBeads

I had an epiphany yesterday, regarding the word 'waste' and how it's applied in this instance. It makes sense now why things like the peelings and tea bags, although not avoidable are classed as waste.

I've been thinking of 'food waste' as a verb, how people are wasting food. Now that is avoidable, putting it out for the birds, feeding it to the dog/cat, putting it on the compost or out for the council recycling collection isn't really waste in this instance.

But if you think of it as a noun it makes more sense. It's the waste that is generated from food. Yes, orange peels, tea bags, banana skins ARE food waste: that's waste from food, not wasted food. It's a matter of perspective.

How to reduce it is to think of different ways of using the byproducts of the food we produce, so that the food is grown for the combination of the edible part and the uses the inedible part is used for.

Suffolk_lass

HelenPetersBeads wrote: »

I had an epiphany yesterday, regarding the word 'waste' and how it's applied in this instance. It makes sense now why things like the peelings and tea bags, although not avoidable are classed as waste.

I've been thinking of 'food waste' as a verb, how people are wasting food. Now that is avoidable, putting it out for the birds, feeding it to the dog/cat, putting it on the compost or out for the council recycling collection isn't really waste in this instance.

But if you think of it as a noun it makes more sense. It's the waste that is generated from food. Yes, orange peels, tea bags, banana skins ARE food waste: that's waste from food, not wasted food. It's a matter of perspective.

How to reduce it is to think of different ways of using the byproducts of the food we produce, so that the food is grown for the combination of the edible part and the uses the inedible part is used for.

I agree, the by-products of our food consumption is the issue for the posters on here, and if you think about hot-composting, the rapid breakdown of plant and food material in our compost bins is resulting in the production of the very gasses we are seeking to minimise, as it breaks down. So while it is a waste product that is sort of contributing to the warming climate gas production, it does help to enrich our soil without the use of expensive chemicals, the production of which is much more impactful on our world.

The lesser of several evils? We had an anaerobic digester proposal locally, and lots of people were protesting, assuming smell and impact, but the idea is to super-hot process the waste, using the emitted gasses as an energy source, and the crumbly brown part as compost for gardeners and commercial users. At present, they are mainly a farming thing, with many growing the crops needed to feed them. That seems wrong too. I was hoping Suffolk Councils could get together but it seems a bit of nimby-ism prevailed, and that the whole thing was over-sold to farmers who have built their own - they need expertise and the right mix of feed, becoming an industry requiring resources, rather than a way to use up waste.

tighteningthebelt

HelenPetersBeads wrote: »

I've been thinking of 'food waste' as a verb, how people are wasting food.

But if you think of it as a noun it makes more sense. It's the waste that is generated from food. Yes, orange peels, tea bags, banana skins ARE food waste: that's waste from food, not wasted food. It's a matter of perspective.

That is really helpful, thanks for posting. It'll help loads of people to be clear.
It's probably because they're lumped together in the figures and the campaigns that I am getting irritated.
Sharing the noun and the verb makes no distinction between the onion skins and the composting with over-buying food and not being organised with kitchen habits.
The moral judgement that comes from, say, throwing away beef steaks in a world or a country that has hungry people (and this is the thrust of the latest gov stuff... Let's get this food out to people who might not otherwise get fresh veg, to community cafes that serve disadvantaged people etc) (as well as the love food hate waste campaign that gave us the top tips that most people on this site have been doing for years, for economy if not ecology) should not be the same as the moral judgement of someone who puts onion skins on a compost heap or feeds boiled up peelings to chickens to make eggs. But then the motivating moral high ground wouldn't be available either!
Or, if grouping them together is really the right thing to do then it should be explicit every time its mentioned in the news or online etc that some of this could be eaten.
Thanks ever so much for posting though, you are quite correct, and it's helpful.

Crafty_Lisa_Hampshire

I was disappointed with myself this morning. I went to make my salad for lunch today and when I got the lettuce out some of it had started to go off. Thankfully I managed to save some of it but a lot of it when in my compost caddy. I haven't weighed it or anything but it did make me think about this thread I discovered the other day. I must try harder!

[Deleted User]

Linda32 wrote: »

May I ask of the unavoidable waste listed, would anybody consider a compost bin, or do you have one. Some of the waste can go in there.

I agree ,ut some people perhaps don't have a garden,or live in a block of flats ,or like myself don't have a compost bin.

I have a gardener who comes once a fortnight to weed and mow and tidy up the shrubs. As I no longer do the garden myself I have no need for a compost heap/bin My gardener removes the clippings etc and takes them away with him.

I have so far got my waste down to one very small bag per week(usually the bag that perhaps the banana or potatoes have come in.This usually consists of banana skins coffee grounds or tea bags with a few egg shells. and maybe some discarded veg trimmings.I have a recycling bag for paper/card etc which is collected once a fortnight by the local council.Virtually everything else I try to find a home for or reuse in some way.I live close to a precinct where bottle and tins can be recycled and can walk there in about 5 minutes.I didn't even have a rubbish black bag anymore as my small bag of waste goes with me to my DDs and goes into her refuse bag as she has a larger family at home and I am there most days anyway

Fire_Fox

jack_pott wrote: »

One way? It's the only way. Once you've bought what you can't eat, the writing is on the wall: it's going to get wasted.

Don't buy what you can't eat, don't cook what you can't eat.

For many households there will be a trade-off with that.

Consider those living alone (ONS says a quarter of all households), those in small spaces (eg. student halls/ bedsit/ hostel/ studio flat) where you only have a tiny fridge with integral ice box or one shelf in a shared fridge-freezer, and those not living near a good supermarket or good market (travel costs of shopping more frequently).

Compare the price and the format of common fruit and veg at the Big Four, and at a discounter (Lidl/ Aldi), and at a local/ mini/ express supermarket. Whole head of broccoli v. little bag of prepared florets, whole head of celery v. a few sticks, kilo bag of carrots v. single carrot v. little bag of batons, bunch of bananas v. single banana.

If you can get individual loose produce at a local/ mini/ express supermarket the mark up is massive, ditto for the prepared little bags. Buying batons or florets is just passing the food waste to a different part of the food chain: where did the rest of the carrot and broccoli go? Little bags increase plastic packaging waste, which is no more environmentally friendly than wasting the food itself.

The trade-off for many living alone and/ or with very limited food storage space is to eat a much more monotonous and much less nutritious diet.

[Deleted User]

Fire_Fox wrote: »

For many households there will be a trade-off with that.

Consider those living alone (ONS says a quarter of all households), those in small spaces (eg. student halls/ bedsit/ hostel/ studio flat) where you only have a tiny fridge with integral ice box or one shelf in a shared fridge-freezer, and those not living near a good supermarket or good market (travel costs of shopping more frequently).

Compare the price and the format of common fruit and veg at the Big Four, and at a discounter (Lidl/ Aldi), and at a local/ mini/ express supermarket. Whole head of broccoli v. little bag of prepared florets, whole head of celery v. a few sticks, kilo bag of carrots v. single carrot v. little bag of batons, bunch of bananas v. single banana.

If you can get individual loose produce at a local/ mini/ express supermarket the mark up is massive, ditto for the prepared little bags. Buying batons or florets is just passing the food waste to a different part of the food chain: where did the rest of the carrot and broccoli go? Little bags increase plastic packaging waste, which is no more environmentally friendly than wasting the food itself.

The trade-off for many living alone and/ or with very limited food storage space is to eat a much more monotonous and much less nutritious diet.

Yup, I live alone, so buying food in quantities you can eat is the biggest bind, it seriously restricts which recipes you can cook. I plan meals about 5-6 days at a time so that each uses leftovers from the others, and batch cook and freeze. Putting fruit & veg in bags so people can't leave the ugly ones has made things worse. It's often the little things like sauces that are the problem too. Even dried herbs & spices tend to lose flavour over the time it takes to use them.

-taff

JackieO wrote: »

I have so far got my waste down to one very small bag per week(usually the bag that perhaps the banana or potatoes have come in.This usually consists of banana skins coffee grounds or tea bags with a few egg shells. and maybe some discarded veg trimmings.

Can you dig a little hole in the dirt and put these in? Coffee grounds are nitrogen based so they're ok just to scatter round plants...Crushed eggshells can also be scattered. It won't stop slugs though, ive tried with industrial amounts.....[got a massive couple of buckets ful from the canteen in work in another job to try....Didn't work...