Love Food Hate Waste campaign huge success in Rotherham

A CAMPAIGN to help save cash and waste has been hailed as a great success.
Abi Cox, BDR community education liaison officerAbi Cox, BDR community education liaison officer
Abi Cox, BDR community education liaison officer

Members of the Love Food Hate Waste team have been touring South Yorkshire to encourage people to shop sensibly, keep an eye on portion sizes and make use of leftovers.

The BDR (Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham) Waste Partnership, which deals with 250,000 tonnes of black bin waste from the three towns every year, ran the campaign in conjunction with food waste reduction charity WRAP.

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It aimed to make a dent in the staggering 7.3 million tonnes of food waste thrown away across the UK every, costing householders of £13 billion a year.

A series of 21 events included cookery demonstrations featuring leftovers, and useful giveaways such as recipe cards, re-usable shopping bags, rice scoops and measuring spoons.

Many people signed pledges to throw away less food and promote the idea to friends and family on social media and tips were exchanged on storing food, using up leftovers and making less waste.

BDR community education liaison officer, Abi Cox, based at BDR's waste treatment facility at Manvers said around 40 per cent of leftover household waste was made up of food which need not have been thrown away.

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“The campaign was really well received by the public,” she said.

People were happy to discuss items they put in their bins and we were able to offer some tips and advice they found useful.

“It’s great because wasting less food benefits everyone.  

“We can all save up to £60 a month per household by cutting down the food we put in our bins and obviously everyone would love an extra £700 a year to spend on things like holidays, family days out or simply to make life more comfortable.

“For the councils, it’s brilliant because it cuts down on the amount of food waste we have to collect and treat. 

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“It also gave us an opportunity remind people that if they do have to throw food away, please either compost it or wrap it carefully before disposing of it in the bin.”

Rotherham Borough Council’s assistant director for community safety and street scene, Karen Hanson, said: “The whole campaign is about making simple changes to the way we shop, the way we store foods, and how we use the food we buy.  

“No-one likes throwing away food, and there are lots of little things we can all do which add up to a really big change without great expense or effort.”