This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Bristol chapter.
- You will throw away approximately twice your body weight in food in one year. According to Love Food Hate Waste, we will each dispose of 110kg of edible food in 2016.
(Photo Credit: Ranker)
- Households in Bristol throw away £644.28 worth of food a year, according to the Bristol Post. This makes us as the seventh most wasteful city in the UK.
(Photo Credit: Forward Beat)
- We shouldn’t just be ashamed of food waste in our city. In all of Europe, we are the champion nation of wastrels. We throw away far more than our fellow Europeans, according to the European Commission.
(Photo Credit: Teaching English)
- It may be something we rarely question, but sometimes it is worth questioning the “best-before” dates on our food products, while remembering that supermarkets suggest that the food we buy is only edible when it is in its optimal condition. Using common sense helps; fresh food that has gone off generally stinks, while anything that is salty or sugary will keep for a while. Even environment secretary Liz Truss told The Guardian that she often ignores the “best-before” dates. And if she does, I think it’s ok for us to every so often.
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- Wonder what food is most wasted by us? Bread. According to The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, we waste a whopping 32% of the bread we buy, despite it being a staple part of most people’s diets. It’s especially infuriating, as the simple act of putting your loaf in the freezer = no waste at all. Although a loaf of bread costs less than a £1, think of the cost to the environment before you throw another loaf in your trolley.
(Photo Credit: Our Insight)
- Excessive motor usage is often cited as a crucial element of our lifestyles which have negative environmental impact. In fact, if we stopped wasting food that could have been eaten, the benefit to the planet would be the equivalent of taking 1 in 4 cars off the road, according to Love Food Hate Waste.
(Photo Credit: Eco Friend)
- Bristol café, Bristol Skipchen, was a raging success last year. The café served waste food from skips. And yes, it was perfectly safe to eat. Based in Stokes Croft, its menu included lobster and gorgonzola omelettes in the past. The café is now touring Europe and the UK raising awareness about food waste and building community cafés in refugee camps in Calais and Lesvos. More impressively, the Café manager Sam Joseph has been living off food taken from skips for the past five years.
(Photo Credit: The Telegraph)
Listen to Sam Joseph talking about where he gets his food from. Take a look, and perhaps rethink about the food you waste without realising every single day.