Food Waste Impact
Did you know that Victorians throw away about 250,0001 tonnes worth of food each year? The average household wastes $2,2001 on thrown-away food annually, not to mention the 475,0002 tonnes of CO2 emissions our food waste is generating each year. Food waste accounts for 3% of Victoria’s overall emissions and, if global food waste was a country, it would be the third biggest emitter behind the USA and China.
So that’s the bad news. The good news is that reducing food waste is one of the easiest (and cheapest) things you can do to reduce your household emissions. Here’s how.
Use All Your Food
One of the simplest ways to reduce your food waste is to plan your meals out, buy only what you need, and ensure you’re storing all your food correctly to make it last longer. When you reach the end of your week or meal cycle and you still have leftover meat or vegetables, have a “leftovers night” – put everything into a soup, pasta, curry, or pizza.
Take It One Step Further
Even if you’re using all the edible food in the house, there’s still the question of scraps – fruit and vegetable peels and seeds, coffee grounds, tea leaves, etc. While we can’t consume every single part of the food we purchase or grow, we can put it to better use than landfill.
There are heaps of ways to discard your food scraps at home, whether you live in an apartment, a sharehouse, or a house with a yard. We’ve highlighted the top options below.
Compost – This method is particularly useful if you have a garden to utilise the compost once it’s fully broken down. Compost bins break down organic matter and turn it into nutrient-dense food for your garden. During this process the matter will heat up to quite high temperatures, so we suggest a rotating compost bin to make sure everything remains oxygenated and safe. The Little Veggie Patch Co has a great beginner’s guide to composting.
Worm farm – Do you want hundreds of cute, wriggling pets? No, not pests – pets. These adorable little sightless creatures will be more than happy to break down your organic matter for you, and leave you with concentrated fertiliser for the garden. Worms will eat basically the same things you can put into your compost. You can also keep a worm farm indoors, which is great news for apartment dwellers! The resulting fertiliser is highly sought after and can be sold or given away if you don’t have any plants which might benefit.
Chooks – Household chickens will happily gobble up much of your kitchen scraps, and in return will provide you with fresh eggs almost daily. Chickens are a bit more picky than your average worm, and they will require additional special feed, but they also make great companions! This is what chickens prefer to munch on – the upside of this option (as opposed to compost or worms) is that you can feed them a little of your (cooked) meat scraps and dairy.
All of these options are available for purchase at your local gardening centre or pet store, and many will also be available secondhand, which is how your author procured both compost and worm farm.
Going the Extra Mile
If you’re already across reducing your food waste and home composting, there are a few other ways that you can consider to lower your food-related emissions.
The first is to consider how far your food travels to get to you, and to buy local. In Geelong, the best way to do this is through the South Geelong Farmers Market, which runs every second Sunday of the month at South Geelong Primary School. There you’ll find plenty of organic, locally sourced produce.
The second is to decrease the amount of packaged food you purchase. There are some amazing wholefoods stores around Geelong where you can take a jar or container and fill up all manner of dry goods.
Happy Eating!
When you start to change your eating habits, the benefits are enormous. Not only will you be reducing your emissions and saving money, but you will start to feel more connected to your food. And that makes for much better eating!
References:
1 – Sustainability Victoria
2 – Food Waste Emissions Calculator