This guest post was written by the guys at Obeo, a compostable box for clean and easy food waste recycling. Read more about the product and the founders, Liz and Kate, at the end of the post.
Food Waste is a major issue.
According to the FAO, roughly one third of the food produced in the world for human consumption gets lost or wasted every year. This resulted in over £15 billion worth of food being binned in the UK in 2015 alone!
Fruits and veg have the highest wastage rates. Every year, consumers in rich countries waste almost as much food as is produced in sub-Saharan Africa. If these figures shock you, they should!
Two weeks ago we reached Earth Overshoot Day. On this day we had used up all the natural resources that the earth could replenish in one year.
You can read more about that here. Food waste is a major contributor to this. When food ends up in landfill the anaerobic conditions present result in the emission of harmful greenhouse gases such as methane.
Okay so now that we’ve hopefully convinced you that this is an issue worth caring about we’re going to share some tips on how you can play your part in combating this serious issue!
SHOP SMART
One of the most effective ways to reduce your food waste is to shop smart.
- First things first, check them cupboards! Knowing what you already have avoids you purchasing more of the same.
- Next create a list of the things you need. Having a list means you won’t run to the supermarket in a hunger induced flurry and start raiding the chocolate aisle!
- Finally, try to pick the freshest looking produce. The fresher the food, the longer it will keep. Nobody likes it when their mangoes go mushy the day after they buy them!
LOVE YOUR LEFTOVERS
We’ve all been there, your eyes were bigger than your belly and now you have enough lasagna to feed a small army! Fear not as the freezer is here to save the day! Simply pop leftovers into a freezer proof container and reuse within 2-3 months.
“INSTAPIRATION”
Do you see what I did there? No? Okay well I tried! Instagram is one of our fave places to get food inspo from. With all the amazing food bloggers out there, like Hazel from the Food Medic, or Mairi from Ginger Vegan, you’re sure to find a recipe for almost anything. Leftover food can often be a pain to use. Nobody wants to eat the same thing three days in a row (Unless its Domino’s. I love Domino’s!). So why not take a scroll through your favourite grammers feed and see if there is a way to rework your leftovers?
GET APPY!
So you’ve done your best to reduce and reuse but there’s still some pesky peppers in your fridge that you know you aren’t going to get to. Well lucky for you there are a whole host of food sharing apps that are now available on the market. These apps allow you to give and receive surplus food so it is not thrown away. Sadly there are none available on the Irish market at present but for those of you in the UK you should check out Olio. The app has over 205,000 users and has saved over 304,000 food items from landfill to date. Now that’s impressive!
COMPOST
So last but certainly not least is good old recycling. Lets face it there are just some things we can’t save. Fruit and veg can often go off before your eyes and apple cores don’t exactly make a great addition to a dish. That’s where correct disposal comes in. Having a composter has a whole host of benefits. However, we are aware that home composting isn’t for everyone and that’s exactly why we created Obeo. Our little food waste box is perfect for those of you with a brown bin who want to recycle your food waste but don’t want the hassle of smelly bins or leaky liners. To find out more check out our about section here.
