Food
Why a third of all food is wasted
Food waste is an issue across the planet with figures highlighting that approximately one third or all food produced is lost or wasted. Production and distribution of food use a vast amount of resources and over production can cause water shortages, damage to waterways and soil through overuse of chemicals and pesticides and increased greenhouse gas emissions.
How food waste creates harmful emissions
When food waste is thrown into landfill it produces a large amount of methane. As food rots and degrades, it emits harmful gases which are 25 times more harmful than carbon dioxide in terms of trapping heat in the atmosphere.
The Circular Economy Action Plan, highlights food waste as one of the priority areas and outlined the environmental, social and economic impacts of food waste and the key actions needed to tackle them.
Read WRAP’s report, Halving Food Loss and Waste in the EU by 2030 for key actions to reduce food waste
What can I do….to reduce food waste?
Meet the NIRN members who are active in reducing food waste and also delivering positive social action and engagement.
FareShare NI
Based in Newtownabbey, FareShare NI collects and redistributes surplus food to charities across NI to ensure no good food is wasted and vulnerable individuals and families can benefit.
FareShare NI
Cloughills Community Action Team
Community Fridges are also a great way of ensuring food is not wasted and can be used at a local level. Cloughmills Community Action Team opened the first community fridge in Northern Ireland in 2017 and promotes the availability of the excess food to everyone in the community to ensure food does not go to waste.