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Love Food Hate Waste roadshow for Green Lanes

Publication date: Friday 9 July 2010

Shoppers in Haringey are being reminded of ways to avoid food waste during the summer. When picnics and barbeques involve preparing and cooking more food than usual, this can often lead to an increase in food waste.

Leftovers contribute to £12 billion worth of food that is thrown out every year in UK homes. Householders are throwing out on average £480/year. This increases to £680/year for families with children - or £50 per month.

Cllr Nilgun Canver, Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods, said:

"Wasting food has a huge environmental impact - if we stopped throwing food and drink away, it would save the equivalent of at least 20 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. That is equivalent to taking one in every four cars off our roads. I hope this roadshow will help press home the message that reducing waste helps save money and protects the planet too."

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Food waste experts will be on hand to offer advice on portion control, sell-by dates and storage and to give shoppers some tops tips and rescue recipes on making the most of their leftover food, whilst also saving money. Shoppers will also have the opportunity to spin the 'Wheel of Food' or play the 'Perfect Portions' game and test their knowledge of food waste.

The Haringey roadshow will take place on Tuesday 13 July, 10am - 2pm at Sainsbury's, Harringay Green Lanes.

"The amount of food, which is thrown away in the UK each year, is a serious issue. Most food waste is sent to landfill sites where it emits methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. The roadshows are an ideal opportunity to pick up some key tips, on how to reduce our food waste, which will benefit shoppers purses and the environment"

said Cllr Loakes, Chair of the North London Waste Authority.

Over the next month, North London Waste Authority will be supporting a number of Love Food Hate Waste roadshows, in partnership with the seven constituent boroughs of Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Hackney, Haringey, Islington and Waltham Forest, in a bid to reduce food waste across north London.

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Key facts

  • Since the Love Food Hate Waste campaign launched, 2 million homes are feeling the benefits of cutting back on the food they waste, saving £400 million
  • We throw food and drink out for two main reasons: 1) we let it go off, either completely untouched, or opened/started but not finished, costing £6.7 billion per year; or 2) we cook or prepare too much, costing us £4.8 billion per year
  • In terms of weight: 5.3 million tonnes of food and drink is thrown out every year in the UK - such as cheese, milk & juice, meat and fish, fruit and vegetables and bread. This figure does not include anything we wouldn't normally eat, like peelings, bones, or crusts
  • Wasting food has a huge environmental impact - if we stopped throwing food and drink away, it would save the equivalent of at least 20 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. That's like taking 1 in every 4 cars off our roads
  • Food and drink waste is damaging to the environment because producing, storing and getting the food to our homes uses a lot of energy and resources - all of which are wasted when it gets binned. And most of this reaches landfill sites where it emits methane, a powerful greenhouse gas
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About the North London Waste Authority (NLWA)

The NWLA was established in 1986 and is the waste disposal authority for Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Hackney, Haringey, Islington and Waltham Forest. This means its primary function is to arrange the transport and disposal of waste collected by these boroughs. It is the second largest waste disposal authority in the country, measured by tonnage.

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