When you throw out that stale bread, the leftovers from last night’s dinner or those greening potatoes, think about this: In Auckland, avoidable food waste costs the average household nearly $574 a year.
It’s a figure that becomes even more alarming when you see it on a national scale — that’s an annual bill of $872 million for the country; $274 million for Auckland alone. And the most wasted foods: the a forementioned bread, leftovers and potatoes, followed by apples, poultry, bananas, lettuces, oranges, pumpkin and carrots, at number 10.
Currently councils nationwide are getting behind a Love Food Hate Waste campaign they hope will result in significant reductions in food sent to landfills. They are highlighting the importance of planning food purchases and meals, storing food properly and using leftovers.
Here at Bite, Aaron Brunet is making a move in the right direction, serving a delicious Italian panzanella salad, that uses up chunks of stale bread.
Meanwhile, one last sobering thought from a recent national survey conducted by WasteMINZ, the presentative body of the waste and recovery sector in New Zealand:
The average Kiwi household sends 79kg of uneaten food a year to landfills. Eliminating this national food waste would have the same effect as reducing CO2 emissionsby 325,975 tonnes and that’s equivalent to planting 130,390 trees or taking 118,107 cars off the road for a year. Time right now to check out the contents of the vegetable crisper!
For more, visit the Love Food, Hate Waste NZ Facebook page.
