My carbon footprint and food waste....

Recently I have been making a concerted effort to recycle more. Not only is it becoming the thing to do but I was shocked at the amount of waste we throw away as a nation and as a planet. I measured my carbon footprint the other day and apparently I live like I am powering 2 planets instead of one and what I eat and where it comes from and how much I throw away plays a big part in that.

According to the Love Food, Hate Waste site, we throw away 8.3 million tonnes of food each year in the UK; food that could be eaten. This is more even than food packaging. If we stop wasting food we could cut CO2 emissions to the equivalent of taking 1 in 4 cars off the road! This is staggering. Doing our bit for the planet could be as simple as planning meals in advance, only buying what we need and recycling or composting the rest.

If it is that simple, why aren't more of us doing it? We live in a society that has grown accustomed to getting everything we want. In all aspects of our lives and even in a troubled economy we are lucky enough to be able to buy fresh food and fast food. I can't count the number of times I have bought food from the store and then headed to the take away for dinner because I can't be bothered to cook. Fresh fruit and veggies then rot in the fridge and I end up throwing it in the bin. The only justification is that I can do this. I am not restricted because I can afford to do it (most of the time anyway!) It just isn't good enough when there are famines in East Africa and children starving and farmers being driven off their lands by large corporations.

I have changed a lot of my food buying habits in the past few weeks. I now buy fruit and veg boxes weekly that contain just enough for that week. This means I not only eat more healthy but I do not waste anything from it. All the packaging is re-usable and the air miles minimal. I am also making use of the recycling services offered by my local council. They, like many other councils in Britain, are changing to fortnightly bin collections in the new year and so I have got my free bins and am recycling my plastic bottles, cardboard, glass, tins and paper. It's actually quite rewarding.

This may only sound like a little but I do believe that we can all make a difference by doing our bit to limit the food we waste. The long term advantages could be so great and let's face it there really is no excuse for allowing this waste of food to continue.