Partner Article

Let's all love food, hate waste

Three North East councils are helping residents waste less food and save cash. Gateshead, South Tyneside and Sunderland councils have launched a campaign to reduce the amount of food that ends up in landfills.

As part of the campaign, local people are being asked to send in recipe ideas that use food which may otherwise be wasted, such as Bubble and Squeak made from leftover cooked vegetables. The best recipes will be showcased in the regional media, on the councils’ websites and have the chance of winning a copy of the book, ‘Eat Well, Waste Less’ by Bish Muir. Local chefs are also putting their recipes in to the pot.

The campaign backs the national ‘Love Food Hate Waste’ initiative, which aims to reduce the 6.7 million tonnes of food that is thrown away by UK households every year.

In 2006 to 2007 residents of Gateshead, South Tyneside and Sunderland threw away 52,000 tonnes of food waste, including food that is still usable - not just scraps and peelings.

Designer and sustainable living champion, Wayne Hemingway, said: “I was brought up understanding that to waste food is a sin. Everything can be made into a soup, or heated up in a flatbread in a breville, or curried. It’s amazing how everything seems to taste better second time around. If you can develop this attitude it also encourages you to be more creative with your cooking.”

Chair of the South Tyne and Wear Waste Management Partnership, Cllr Michael McNestry, said: “This has two advantages - less food in landfill means less damage to the environment and also more cash in your pocket, which is something I’m sure we could all do with!”

Anyone with leftover recipes to suggest can email them to melissamcgarvie@gateshead.gov.uk or visit www.gateshead.gov.uk/lovefood and www.flickr.com/groups/lovefood.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .