A new strategy for food waste collection service in Sheffield has been laid out by councillors and charity workers following the second national Food Waste Action Week.
Sheffield City Council and Recycle4Sheffield have partnered up to join the campaign of reducing food waste, announcing plans for a government-led food collection service,
The Food Waste Action Week is led by Love Food Hate Waste. A member of the organisation, Sarah Clayton, said: “If global food waste were a country, it would be the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases after China and the US.”
Sources: BBC and UN
Within the UK alone, the nation wastes 4.5 million tonnes of edible waste, which is enough to fill 90 Albert Halls.
Sheffield Council have acted by announcing plans for a government-led food waste collection service, commencing in 2023.
Councillor for Crookes and Crosspool, Tim Huggan, has led calls for a ‘trial’ Food Waste Service.
Councillor Tim Huggan
He said: “We can use the trial to identify issues with the service to iron out glitches and basically get the city ready for the full roll-out.
“If people start separating their food waste and see how much they are wasting, they will soon reduce the amount of food waste they have.”
In the past Coun. Huggan had made two proposals for a trial Food Waste Service at council which were rejected by the Labour and Green Party coalition. The expected 2023 rollout of the new food waste collection service in Sheffield has been made compulsory by the government.
“All the evidence shows that if people start separating their food waste and see how much they are wasting, they soon start to reduce the amount of food waste that they have.” Coun. Huggan declared.
📣📣Wasting food feeds climate change. 📣📣 Thatʼs why weʼre supporting @LFHW_UK for #FoodWasteActionWeek. Find out how you can help save the planet and be more food waste savvy by making friends with your microwave! https://t.co/wJgzXblt6f pic.twitter.com/APWDyTdNtm
— Recycle4Sheffield (@Recycle4Shef) March 9, 2022
Despite the issue of food waste, the Sheffield Council is dealing with the problem of food poverty in the city. During a council meeting in September 2021, a notice of motion put forward by Councillor Ruth Milsom revealed the number of children eligible for free school meals in Sheffield stands at 24,000.
Love Food Hate Waste provides free recipe advice on how to minimize food waste with limited ingredients.
See here to find out more on the Food Action Waste Week.
