Local authorities across Essex have come together to tackle food waste in our county.
Braintree District Council is supporting the Love Essex partnership to launch its 2023 flagship ‘Love Essex, Love Food’ campaign in a bid to reduce food waste in the county.
With the cost-of-living still on the rise, the 12-month campaign aims to help households save money and avoid unnecessary food waste, by taking simple steps such as thinking about meal planning, portion sizes, only purchasing the amount that’s needed, using up leftovers, as well as freezing food and savvy storage.
In Essex, food waste currently makes up roughly 25% of the waste found in the general rubbish. Not only is this contributing to climate change, but it’s also a huge waste of money.
The average Essex household wastes £60 a month by throwing away food that could have been eaten. This is why Love Essex is giving residents the chance to win the equivalent amount in supermarket vouchers every month throughout the year.
Residents can be in for a chance to win by signing the Essex Food Waste Pledge and take part in the monthly challenges.
Cllr Wendy Schmitt, Cabinet Member for Climate Changes and The Environment at Braintree District Council, said: “We are proud to be a part of this campaign as it is crucial that we all do our bit to protect our beautiful planet by saving our food from going in the bin. Each stage in the journey of our food from farm to folk draws resources from our planet and produces greenhouse gas emissions, so wasting food is feeding climate change.
“Every little thing we do every day makes a huge difference. By us all working together to tackle climate change, it soon ads up if you times each small action by the 155,200 people living in our district.”
Cllr Richard van Dulken, Cabinet Member for Operations and Commercialisation at Braintree District Council, said: “With the cost-of-living crisis, it is even more important that we consider how we can reduce the amount of good food being thrown away in the rubbish bin.
“Simple things as part of a weekly routine like storing, freezing, reheating correctly, as well as using up leftovers, we can stay in control of food shopping habits, make our food go further and save money on shopping bills too.”
To kick off this year’s campaign, Love Essex has created a humorous short film to highlight the issue of food waste. People can watch it on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9smVgD924k
To find out more information or to sign the Essex Food Waste Pledge, visit: loveessex.org/foodwaste