Food Waste Reduction Over Christmas
Christmas is quickly approaching so we wanted to give you some tips on how to make your festive food more sustainable. It is estimated that around 230,000 tonnes of food waste is produced during the festive season. This equates to around 42 million dishes of Christmas food. A significant amount of festive food is sold in plastic packaging. In 2018 114,000 tonnes of plastic packaging from festive food was placed in the general waste bin. We recognise that it can feel overwhelming trying to incorporate sustainability into the festive season but we’re here to offer a helping hand to help you reduce food waste whilst still having a wonderful time.
Reasons for increased food waste:
- Approximately 40% of groceries sold within the UK are discounted during the festive season. This encourages over consumption of food, leading to increased food waste.
- Improper food storage means that food is spoiling quicker and therefore is being discarded.
- Lack of understanding around date labels. Many people struggle to understand the difference between use by dates and best before.
- Many people don’t have the knowledge on how to store leftovers effectively meaning food is being unnecessarily binned.
Despite all of the above there are ways to help reduce food waste this festive season. Below are some examples of ways in which you can reduce food waste and help others reduce food waste.
- Ensure you and the people around you understand date labels: use by dates indicate the last day in which the food can be safely consumed. Food can be eaten until midnight of its use-by-date. Best before date labels refer to the date in which a food should be consumed to ensure best quality. Food can safely be eaten after its best before date however the quality of the food may be reduced.
- Plan and only buy the number of groceries necessary for the number of people.
- If friends and family are wanting to bring food, then let them know what to bring to reduce the likelihood of duplicates that could end up in the bin.
- If you do end up with too much food, then use those leftovers for other dishes. For example, left over turkey can be used for turkey sandwiches etc.
- Make sure you make enough space for your festive treats to be properly stored to help them stay fresh for longer.
It is also vital that businesses assess food waste and help consumers reduce food waste when purchasing their products. Below are some hints and tips for businesses to help support consumers to reduce food waste as much as possible and reduce their own food waste across their own operations.
- Provide festive recipes to help your consumers use your product more effectively and help to reduce the amount of waste.
- Plan, particularly if you’re a retailer, try and look at forecasts to predict the amount of stock that will be needed to help reduce the amount of food going to waste if it hasn’t been sold.
- Ensure your food is properly labelled including adding information on how food can be properly stored to ensure consumers can keep your product fresh for as long as possible.
How Achieve Goal 12 can help
Are you looking to reduce food waste throughout your operations? Our food waste reduction roadmap process will help you to reduce your food waste throughout your operations. We will help to implement strategies to reduce your food waste.
- What we offer
- Identification of your current food waste intensity areas
- Recommend strategies and reduction opportunities
- Set targets based on your data
Together, we can make a difference. Contact us here.