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Food waste in Irish homes increases substantially over Christmas

December 8, 2016dkcreative

Sustainable Waste & Resource Management

Food Waste – let’s do something about it

Food waste in Ireland is a real problem and it is costing the average Irish Family €700 each year.

Most of our food wastage ends in landfills where it has significant local environmental impacts.

But long before we even buy our food there are a whole lot of other environmental costs associated with getting our food into our trolleys.

HOW MUCH FOOD DO WE WASTE?

In Ireland there is over 1 million tonnes of food waste each year.  Around 1/3 comes from household waste which means that at home each person is throwing out about 80kg of food each year.

This doesn’t seem much but we have a population of over 4million people and its adds to too much.

While some food waste cannot be avoided, the majority of it could be saved if we managed our food better.  And this will save us money too.

In general, we throw out three types of food:

60% is avoidable food waste – includes plate scrapings, leftovers, gone off fruit & veg, passed its date perishables etc.
20% is potentially avoidable – things like bread crusts, potato skins etc.  These are food wastes that are often related to habits and, as with any habit, changing can be hard.  For those of you at the resource management night held in the Sligo Park in 2014 Joe Shannon told us to use the breadcrumbs to feed the birds, and to freeze for your next roast chicken dinnerr. Remember, you can roast your potato skins with some olive oil and paprika!
20% is unavoidable food waste – includes chicken bones banana skins, peelings etc.  Your brown bin collects all of this household food waste. Visit  www.brownbin.ie for more information. When the waste collector empties your brown bin, the contents are taken to a dedicated composting plant where it is specially treated and turned into high quality compost. This can be used in gardens, landscaping projects and  on agricultural land.
Challenge your household to make inroads into reducing the avoidable food waste. It will save you money.

How can you stop food waste?

1.       Know the food you continually waste and ask yourself why?

a.      To begin to save you need to know how much you waste

b.      Record it.

c.       Put a reason why it is wasted.

2.       Plan your week ahead

a.      Write up a detailed list for the week ahead

b.      Know what you already have in the cupboard

3.       Shopping – this is the one place you waste food before you even know it!

a.      Go prepared

b.      Stick to the shopping list/plan you brought with you

c.       Check your savings from the week before

4.       Store foods correctly

a.      Know how to store correctly

b.      Use it right – within date.  Freeze what you can

5.       Cooking & Serving

a.      Proper portions – an overloaded plate leads to an overloaded bin.  Know what portion sizes are needed for adults and children.

b.      Reuse leftovers – learn about the magic art of the loaves and fishes.

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Sligo Old Cemetery – historicgraves.com

July 23, 2019dkcreative
View Website Sligo Old Cemetery Survey commenced in 2017 as part of the Sligo Historic Graveyards Project.  Funded by Sligo...
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Sligo Tidy Towns

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Congratulations Anthony. We are looking forward to working with you during your term as chair. Best wishes in this important role. ... See MoreSee Less

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Sligo Tidy Towns

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EDIT LINK ADDED

This looks like an interesting information meeting.

us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAvcO-sqzktHdbVnv4zBZ3lM-ezxePV0-wS

Sligo tidy towns are looking at a number of projects which will enhance the environment and water quality in the garavogue river and lower Lough Gill.

We posted recently about an environmental assessment undertaken by Cartron Bay Residents Association and we will be planning a number of projects on the river over the coming years.

Much of the area is a Special Area of Conservation and we will be commissioning detailed reports on the management of the river.

As we complete this report we will update you on our plans.

We are also planning a series of walks with routes along the river, lake and sea frontage which we are so lucky to have within our town.

Please follow our page for more information as we progress our plans.

There is a link towards the end of the poster where you can register for this event.

Local Authority Waters Programme
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