Reducing wastage

My husband is currently on a work trip to the USA and he keeps commenting on just how excessive everything is there – bigger, faster, more of it……..so that, in addition to a couple of emails from other staff regarding wastage and excess this week, got me onto this weeks topic for our  tip of the week.

Reducing Wastage! 

Firstly you need to get your head around this: Rubbish doesn’t go away, it just becomes someone else’s problem!  Everything is cyclic in this world.  If we create a dead end with rubbish, there is a net loss of resources and also space because the rubbish has to go somewhere. 

So if every time you make a purchase you think about what happens to the rubbish – it will help you make changes to your purchasing habits. 

You should also look at this link found by Jennifer Hamlin - look at the volume and the packaging differences, not to mention costs!!   Our head of school, Jeanette O’Fee also commented on a recent article found in National Geographic called How to feed a plant, which talks about the wastage associated with the food we purchase.  It is unreal. 

So what should you do?
Purchase only what you actually need 

• If you find you throw food out each week, reassess the quantities you are purchasing or evaluate how you can ensure that food is not wasted for example when fruit and vegetables start to look less than their best, cutting them up and displaying them on a plate as this soon encourages people to eat them!  
• The left over meal can be stir fired for the next days meal, or used in sandwiches for the next days meal and so on.  
• If Bread is going mouldy before you use it, try only having half a load out and freezing the rest. 
•  Sure food waste can we composted BUT that isn’t the point really.  There are plenty of people who have none. 

Take a look at what you are purchasing 

• Is there a product available with less packaging
• Is there a product available with packaging that is more easily able to be reused or recycled?
• Do we need that product with so much packaging – is there are fresh or whole food alternative?

I hope that gives you food for thought!!  If you haven’t already clicked on the link above make sure you do because it’s a pictorial that says many thousand words!!

Have a great and sustainable weekend.