food waste » Sift Blog
Posts Tagged ‘food waste’
Wednesday, February 13th, 2013 by Admin
With Marmite hitting our shelves on 20th March I got thinking about food glorious food! SIFT’s all about waste minimisation so today’s topic is food wastage and how to reduce it. We’re all probably guilty of throwing food out so let’s look at some tips on how to reduce food waste including some info on Canterbury food banks where you can donate your extra food.
 Throwing out your food? Think again... Here are some tips to reduce your food waste:
- Understand what types of foods you are wasting. Recognising these items will alert you come shopping day to consider if you’ve brought too much
- Before you go shopping have a look in the cupboards and fridge and see what you have. Next make a list and stick to it when you’re in the supermarket. If you’re super organised write a meal plan for the week ahead so you know exactly what ingredients you need to buy
- Move your older foods to a prominent place so they are used first
- Think about what food can be frozen. That way perishable items can be saved for when they are required, not needlessly cooked up and thrown out as too much was prepared
- Serve people what they will eat – try not to prepare too much
- Take your leftovers for lunch the next day or think about how you can add to your next main meal
- Fruit that has gone soft can be made into smoothies or used in baking plus vegies can be added to soup.
- Donate your extra food to food banks. In Christchurch you can contact The Christchurch City Mission and The Salvation Army.
Remember buying less food or only the items you need for that weeks meals will save you money! Now that’s great motivation to have a think about how to shop wiser.
Image from: http://www.google.co.nz/imgres?imgurl=http://www.wellhome.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/food-waste.jpg&imgrefurl
Tags: food, food waste, tips to reduce food waste
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Thursday, April 5th, 2012 by Admin
We all are guilty of wasting food, and we all know that food waste is going on. How many times have you looked in your fridge to discover leftovers that weren’t eaten fast enough, or vegetables going mouldy before you had the chance to eat them?
It happens to the best of us, but trying to cut down on food waste is incredibly important for a whole host of reasons. It will save you money and it will be better for the environment (because heaps of food waste just goes to landfills, instead of being composted). Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: compost, consumption, food waste
Posted in Friday favourites, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 8th, 2012 by Admin
 Waste separation schemes help to minimize the amount of useable waste going to landfills As wheelie bins allocated to different types of waste are appearing throughout the country, it is becoming increasingly obvious that separating and treating our various types of waste correctly could have a major impact on the amount of waste that is, well, wasted instead of used constructively.
In Canterbury, we now have three bins dedicated to separating waste and enabling more efficient waste collection , and Auckland has just got the ‘yellow’ recycling bin, which means for the most part we can effectively separate our waste. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: CCC, christchurch, diverting waste from landfill, food waste, landfill, recycle, recycling, sustainable living, Waste Management
Posted in Friday favourites, Waste Management | No Comments »
Friday, June 24th, 2011 by Admin
 Eating Design from Marije Vogelzang as part of Go Slow Cafe - love the representation of food miles on the board. Source: BlackEiffel Another tiring week of earthquakes but lots of great stuff happening locally and around the world around sustainability to keep the spirits up. Here are a few goodies we found this week:
Have a great waste free weekend and hopefully an less shakey one for Cantabs.
Tags: fashion, food waste, Good Magazine, Green Ribbon Awards, Greening the Rubble, Hot Topic, marije vogelzang, oceans, plastic, Plastiki, Re-nest, recycling, seed cathedral, Woolgro
Posted in Friday favourites | No Comments »
Tuesday, April 19th, 2011 by Admin
 The Guardian Sue Perkins Lucy Siegal Food Waste While scouting the internet for yesterday’s food waste pic I spotted this great video from the Guardian newspaper’s Green Team from December 2009. In it comedian and broadcaster Sue Perkins (from the wonderful “The Supersizers Go..” and many other great shows) talks to Lucy Siegle from the Guardian about some great food storage tips to reduce food waste.
I love the idea of keeping a note of what is exactly in your freezer so you can see what is still left to be eaten. And that you can freeze cream and butter and salmon! Genius!
Watch the video.
Read more from Love Food Hate Waste (UK).
Tags: carbon emissions, food waste, Sue Perkins, the Guardian, video
Posted in Pratical Action, Waste Management | No Comments »
Monday, April 18th, 2011 by Admin
 Source: Myzerowaste.com I feel it might be time to start the mantra “Waste Not, Want Not” again after reading the below article from the NZ Herald on New Zealander’s wasting $750million in food a year. That is massive. Think of all the wasted energy in labour, food growth (sun, water), chemicals, fuel for tractors, fuel for ships to bring some of it here, transportation, energy used in our distribution warehouses, energy used in our supermarkets, energy used in getting to the supermarket, waster $ in our spending, the energy used by our refrigerators and freezers (for those products stored in the fridge/freezer), the human energy to throw it out and then the ultimate waste of it going to landfill (some still wrapped in plastic no doubt) and the energy it takes to pick it up from the kerb, truck it to our transfer stations and then to Kate Valley where it sits. Or hopefully, some it is going in the green bin or being composted.
Not really an efficient use of our resources.
It is interesting to read that in Britain they are reviewing their labelling standards to improve consumer education on when the food is good till. This is worth doing here (along with carbon information in its manufacturing/production and distribution).
NZ Herald: Study, $750 million wasted on food by Martin Johnston and Isaac Davison
Kim Hill also interviewed the Australian economist, Richard Denniss, quoted in the NZ Herald article on her show on Saturday morning (Radion New Zealand). Mr Denniss discusses the survey that was conducted and what we can do to reduce that waste (and other wasted items such as “things” and “stuff” that we think we need and never use). Hmm.. again it seems to be coming back to reducing our consumption to reduce our impact on the environment and reduce our carbon emissions.
Download the mp3 podcast of that interview.
Tags: carbon, Energy, food waste, Kim Hill, NZ Herald, Richard Denniss
Posted in Business & Sustainability, Waste Management | No Comments »
Friday, January 28th, 2011 by Admin
 Source: Re-Nest Roof made from recycled plastic bottles The year is streaming past already – it’s February next week – and we are in full projects mode here at SIFT with a new set of potential new project applications already! But, to have a breather this weekend here are our Friday Favourites (lots this week):
Have a great waste free weekend.
Tags: Beehive, Ben and Jerrys, Celsias, food waste, Inhabitat, printing, recycling, Rerip, surfing, The Age, Waste Minimisation fund
Posted in Business & Sustainability, Friday favourites, News on Sustainability | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010 by Admin
 Source - Flickr From youmakemehappywhenskiesaregrey For Christchurch, in 2008/2009, nearly a quarter of all waste sent to landfill was kitchen waste. This is one of the waste streams that can be reduced the fastest and that each household and business in Canterbury can directly impact. Not only does wasted food impact the space in our landfills but also impact on global warming with the methane emitted as it breaks down (not to mention all the emissions from the production, manufacturing and transportation of the food that isn’t eaten before it gets to the consumer).
Reduce your food waste by firstly recognising what, when and how you are buying (maybe buying less more often will mean less spolied food), by planning your meals and using leftovers and then what is left over can go into a compost bin or EM Bokashi system breaking down and then providing much needed nutrients for your garden (or potted plants).
Or if you are a business in the food service, hospitality or produce industry look at how you can reduce the amount of unsold food that is wasted. Can it be reduced in price on or just before the use by date or can you set up a business composting system or give the food away to a community garden’s compost?
There are some great ideas for creative uses for kitchen scraps from Re-Nest.
Or check out the wonderful UK site Love Food Hate Waste for some excellent practical actions that you can do today.
Love to hear your ideas on how business can help to reduce food waste.
Tags: business, canterbury, community, diverting waste from landfill, environmental sustainability, food waste, sustainable future, sustainable living, waste, Waste Management
Posted in Sustainability in Action, World Environment Day 2009 | No Comments »
Friday, February 12th, 2010 by Admin
 Source: Flickr Zenkatydid Here are a few good links that we have come across over the past week that you might be interested in:
Tags: art, behaviour change, CDs, christchurch, decomposition, DVDs, eco bag, electric, food waste, packaging, piano stairs, plastics, trelise cooper, waste
Posted in News on Sustainability, Other Sustainable Initiatives, Sustainability in Action, Waste Management | No Comments »
Monday, February 8th, 2010 by Admin
 ASB Classical Sparks Last Friday the Christchurch City Council put on one of the favourite events of the Summertimes festival, the ASB Classical Sparks. Classical music, a picnic and some fireworks brought between 80,000 and 100,000 Cantabrians to North Hagley park. But, that also brought a mammoth amount of rubbish as well. People brought their own picnics with varying degrees of preparedness and others were able to purchase food onsite.
Being a waste minded person I was a little worried about what would be on offer for festival goers in the way of waste disposal but, the City Council had the waste logistics covered. All around North Hagley park there were the recognisable Christchurch City waste bins – yellow for recycling, red for rubbish to landfill and green for food waste. It was great to see these waste depots dotted around for easier access. As well as being told by the emcee about how to dispose of rubbish (and even told to take it home with you) there were also city council events people standing next to each depot to help event goers put the right rubbish in the right bin. An excellent opportunity to increase a population’s knowledge (and therefore change their behaviour) of how to dispose of their waste in the right way.
It is hoped that every event provides easy access for people to dispose of their waste appropriately or even better events become zero waste.
Regardless of the waste element a great night was had by all.
Tags: ASB Classical Sparks, behaviour change, canterbury, Christchurch City Council, food waste, landfill, picnic, recycling, rubbish, waste
Posted in Events, Waste Management | No Comments »
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