Author Topic: Throwing food away (Read 4949 times)

Cherry_Ripe · « **on:** November 01, 2007, 01:25:27 pm »

From Sky News:

Britons throw away a third of the food they buy - and a campaign is being launched to make people more aware of how much they are wasting.

The Government-backed Waste & Resources Action Programme said bins across the UK were being filled with food - at great cost to consumers and the environment.

It found 33% of all the food bought in the UK is thrown away untouched - the same as ditching every third bag of groceries.

This equates to 8bn of squandered produce, and as a result 6.7 million tonnes of food waste is dumped into landfill sites every year.

This rots away - producing 15 million tonnes of carbon dioxide.

Preventing the build-up of this level of CO2 would be the same as taking one in five cars off the road.

Who are these people who throw so much away? It's eat or be eaten in my house

« **Reply #1 on:** November 01, 2007, 06:16:19 pm »

The very same people who complain that switching to a waste bin uplift every fortnight just won't work.
We get that and a recycle bin uplift every other week. We also have a vegetable compost bin and in 3 years have NEVER had a problem with over flowing waste/smell or rats.
Go figure.

oldspice · « **Reply #2 on:** November 01, 2007, 06:37:06 pm »

You're right Paulham. We get rubbish collection fortnightly and re-cylce & gardening collection on the alternative weeks. We also have a compost bin and never fill our rubbish bins. In fact, it's the recycling bin that needs to be bigger. I have recycled all of my life and my parents did so too. Now dead, they grew up in the depression years and learned not to waste a thing.

smurfboy · « **Reply #3 on:** November 01, 2007, 07:41:06 pm »

I wish we had recycling collections. Three different apartment complexes back onto our courtyard so it would be an ideal place for recycling bins - but have we got any?

Logger · « **Reply #4 on:** November 01, 2007, 10:51:00 pm »

We have fortnightly rubbish and weekly recycling collections here.

The problem of waste is largely the fault of manufacturers in my opinion, who unnecessarily overpackage the vast majority of goods leaving Joe Bloggs with vast amounts of rubbish to try and dispose of.

As for food waste...do people really throw away that much??? Nothing lasts 5 minutes in our house

oldspice · « **Reply #5 on:** November 02, 2007, 06:46:19 am »

Most manufacturers' packaging can be recycled, but I agree that packaging could be reduced.

It's much harder for people in flats and complexes to recycle because they have less control over their bins. The thugs round here set light to wheely bins outside flats and puch them against the building.

Logger · « **Reply #6 on:** November 02, 2007, 07:02:44 pm »

Quote from: oldspice

Most manufacturers' packaging can be recycled, but I agree that packaging could be reduced.

It's much harder for people in flats and complexes to recycle because they have less control over their bins. The thugs round here set light to wheely bins outside flats and puch them against the building.

I think the fact that many people just aren't bothered about recycling means that the companies overpackaging the products in the first place should be taking more responsibility.

It's shocking that many people still aren't provided with recycling boxes.

loulou · « **Reply #7 on:** November 02, 2007, 09:59:22 pm »

There is no council facilities in north tyneside for recycling cardboard. We have a tip owned by Sita but i am barred and have a letter saying i am not allowed to go there again. They said i was putting too much cardboard in their recycling cardboard bit. So if anyone needs cardboard boxes i'm the person you need.

oldspice · « **Reply #8 on:** November 03, 2007, 10:13:10 am »

That's just mad. If people are banned from recycling the rubbish will end up on a landfill site, rotting away doing nothing!

What really bothers me with people in this city is that many of them refuse to sort their rubbish because they say 'it's the council's job'. They fill their bins, moan about not having a weekly collection - then blame the council when rubbish gets dumped all over the place. They moan that it's the council's fault for not collecting the rubbish weekly and say it's causing flytipping.

Now, to me, it's everyone's duty to take responsibility for the rubbish they generate. I believe we have a moral duty to recycle wherever possible and if our rubbish bins are getting full, we should ask ourselves why.

Neighbours of ours put newspaper in the rubbish bin. That's just not necessary. You can place it in the recycle bin, you can compost it, you can use it to clean windows, you can use it as insulation material, you can give it to local primamry schools to use in their art and craft classes - the list is endless!

« **Reply #9 on:** November 03, 2007, 11:51:58 am »

Quote from: oldspice

What really bothers me with people ... is that many of them refuse to sort their rubbish because they say 'it's the council's job'. They fill their bins, moan about not having a weekly collection - then blame the council when rubbish gets dumped all over the place. They moan that it's the council's fault for not collecting the rubbish weekly and say it's causing flytipping.

Now, to me, it's everyone's dutyto take responsibility for the rubbish they generate. I believe we have a moral duty to recycle wherever possible and if our rubbish bins are getting full, we should ask ourselveswhy.

chocadmin · « **Reply #10 on:** November 03, 2007, 02:47:07 pm »

Round our way it's weekly rubbish collection (just to keep the moaners in the local paper quiet) and alternate week recycling (paper/card/plastic and green waste) collection.

Surprised no-one's mentioned the potential lunacy from this new thing that councils can pilot charging (or refunding) for the amount of waste/recycling we produce - nice idea impossibly hard to implement.

« **Reply #11 on:** November 03, 2007, 06:29:09 pm »

You'll regret that statement when they meter your bin!

smurfboy · « **Reply #12 on:** November 03, 2007, 08:58:25 pm »

Quote from: chocadmin

Surprised no-one's mentioned the potential lunacy from this new thing that councils can pilot charging (or refunding) for the amount of waste/recycling we produce - nice idea impossibly hard to implement.

If councils think charging for the amount a rubbish a household produces will cut down on waste they must have sh*t in their eyes, as my nan would say. All that will happen is people dumping their excess rubbish on the streets or in their neighbours' bins!

oldspice · « **Reply #13 on:** November 04, 2007, 08:51:36 am »

Yes, but that shows the corrupt nature of lazy people rather than the flaw in the council's thinking.

Cherry_Ripe · « **Reply #14 on:** November 05, 2007, 08:35:58 am »

If they start weighing peoples' bins then surely people will dump their waste elsewhere? I'd certainly be tempted to chuck it in my bin at work.