Suffolk backs national campaign to tackle food waste

Suffolk Waste Partnership (SWP) is backing a national campaign highlighting the problem of food waste and encouraging people to take action.
Published: 06 Mar 2023

Food Waste Action Week runs from March 6 – 12 and is run by international action charity Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP).

This year’s theme is ‘Bin. Don’t Win’, which encourages everyone to make the most of their leftovers and to understand the financial saving by doing so.

In Suffolk, there will be information events organised by the SWP at libraries in Ipswich, Felixstowe, Lowestoft, Haverhill and Stowmarket.

Visitors will be given Food Savvy leaflets, recipe cards and food saving giveaways such as spaghetti measures and rice scoops to help get portion sizes right.

There will also be a short film on YouTube throughout the week featuring The Nuffolks, the SWP’s own cartoon family, who support the FoodSavvy campaign on how to plan meals, store food and use leftovers.

There will also be a competition on the Food Savvy Suffolk Facebook page, and a FWAW information page on the Food Savvy website.

A food waste session will also take place with youngsters at Tudor Church of England Primary School in Sudbury on Thursday 9 March.

WRAP estimates annual food waste within the UK households is at around 9.5 million tonnes, with a value of more than £19 billion a year and equivalent to 36 million tonnes of greenhouse gas.

In Suffolk, food waste accounts for:

  • 36% of the total household waste disposed
  • Costs approximately £4.5 million to dispose of
  • Creates 52,500 tonnes per year, of which 19,500 tonnes is still unopened and 22,500 could be composted in a standard home compost bin

The SWP is a partnership between the county, district and borough councils within Suffolk working together to improve waste management services.

Partnership chair Councillor James Mallinder said:

“There are so many simple ways we can avoid throwing food away and instead put it to good use.

“Food is valuable- through the resources it takes to produce it and what we pay for it in the shops.

“By reducing food waste in the home, not only do we save money we also contribute to protecting our environment and help fight the climate emergency.”

For more information about WRAP go to its website.