Huntingdonshire Recycles Campaign to Reduce Food Waste
The environmental impacts of lockdown
The terrible toll of Covid19 on lives, health, livelihoods and loneliness are well known to us all, but there have been some positive knock-on effects of the lockdown on our environment.
One of these is that UK citizens have been managing their food better in lockdown, cutting the throwing-out of the most wasted foods by over a third.
This is great news, because apart from being something that everyone can agree is a bad thing, wasting food is one of the worst things we can do in terms of greenhouse gas pollution.
So what have we done differently in lockdown?
Better planning. Almost half of us (47%) are checking cupboards more often before shopping, and 45% are checking the fridge.
Better food management. More and more of us (37%) have been organising the food in our cupboards and fridge – for example checking use by dates and using up fresh items first.
Getting creative. One in three people (33%) cooked more creatively during lockdown, and 30% have started saving leftovers.
This is encouraging, but we can (and must) do even better… we need to make these food waste reducing behaviours part of our ‘new normal’. For all sorts of tips on food storage, meal planning, portion measurement and recipe inspiration, visit www.lovefoodhatewaste.com
