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Love Food Champions Project

Love Food – cut waste!

Today the NFWI and WRAP are launching the result of the Love Food Champions project, showing how Love Food groups across England successfully cut their food waste by half over a four month period.
The pilot project aimed to help consumers cut back on the food they waste through raising awareness and encouraging behaviour change by offering simple advice. It involved 81 households, which met once a month over four months to discuss key behaviours that contribute to the amount of food waste produced in the home.

Before the project the group participants were throwing away 4.7kg* of food per week – just slightly less than the National average - but after the project, they were wasting less than half this amount per household.  The groups not only managed to cut back on the food they were throwing out, but also learned new skills on food management and cooking.  Another very positive outcome to the pilots was its social side: some participants still meet up with each other.

Personal experiences

Gloucestershire Love Food champion Ceri Crossland said:
We had a great time in our group - meeting new people, sharing recipe books, menu planners and seeing who could claim the crown of "domestic goddess" each time we met, and all the time sharing tips for how to save money by using up everyday ingredients like bread, cheese and spinach!
Ceri Crossland - Love Food Champion
We had such fun that we shared a "leftovers" banquet to celebrate our Love Food group at our last meeting.
Oxfordshire Champion, Helen Fraser said:
Leading the WI love food challenge was a great learning experience for me, especially learning about the correct place to store things and the amazing number of items that can be frozen, such as bananas, cheese, grapes and tomatoes which I had never realised before.
The one thing that really struck a chord with the group in Henley-on-Thames was the idea of meal planning, and I know that several members of the group now plan meals over the week.  This helps to avoid the last minute panic of thinking about what to cook for that night, as well as ensuring that all food bought is for a recipe and not on a whim leaving it to rot slowly in the fridge.

Further information

The press release can be read here...

At the top right hand corner of this page the full report is available for download.

Coverage of the project:
For more information about the role of the WI in the project, please contact the press office on: 0207 371 9300 ext. 211

To view coverage from the Independent on Sunday click here...

What you can do now:
The NFWI is now encouraging members around the country to use the workbook and report to set up their own projects around the country to reduce food waste.

At the top right hand corner of this page the workbook is available for download.

To assist others wishing to set up groups, or run a similar scheme from an existing community or social group, Love Food Hate Waste will be producing a Guide to accompany the Report and Workbook in the near future.

Background

Key facts from the Love Food Hate Waste campaign:

  • In the UK we are throwing away one third of the food we buy. That’s like one in three bagfuls of food shopping going straight in the bin.
  • We throw away 6.7 million tonnes of food each year in the UK, when most of this food could have been eaten. (It’s not just peelings and bones – it’s good food).That’s equivalent to filling Wembley Stadium with food waste 8 times over!
  • In terms of environmental impact – producing, storing and getting the food to our homes uses a lot of energy. If we stopped wasting all this food, it would save the equivalent of at least 18 million tonnes of carbon dioxide.  That’s like taking 1 in 5 cars off UK roads.
  • Most of this food reaches landfill sites where it emits methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.
  • High economic cost – at least £10 billion worth of food that could have been eaten is thrown out every year. UK householders are throwing out on average more than £400/year.
  • We throw food out for two main reasons: 1) we cook or prepare too much, costing us around £4 billion per year; 2) and we let food go off, either completely untouched, or opened/ started but not finished, costing £6 billion per year.

For more information, please go to: www.lovefoodhatewaste.com