Guide to reducing and recycling waste

Only buy food that is going to get eaten. This may sound obvious but as much as 20% of food bought is thrown away without even being opened. Reducing this also helps you save money.

Food waste collections

Kerbside food waste collections will be introduced from 1 October 2027. 

This is part of the simpler recycling changes for households.

Reduce your food waste

Wasting food has a huge environmental impact too. If we reduced the amount of food we throw away, it would save the equivalent of at least 20 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. That’s like taking one in every four cars off our roads.

Visit the Love Food Hate Waste website for recipe ideas, advice on savvy storage and tasty tips on making the most of the food you buy.

Food waste is damaging to the environment because producing, storing and getting the food to our homes uses a lot of energy and resources – all of which are wasted when food gets thrown away in our rubbish bins. When most of this food reaches landfill sites it emits methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.

Buy a food waste bin

You can also buy a food waste bin from Get Composting. They sell Bokashi Bins, which helps ferment your food and create a fertile compost that will nourish your garden. 

Grow your own food

Nothing beats the taste of fresh fruit, vegetables and herbs grown in your own garden - or the satisfaction and enjoyment you get from it. Not sure what to grow or where to start? The Royal Horticultural Society has all the tips and advice you’ll need.

Do not forget that lots of edibles can be grown in tubs if you have not got room for a whole vegetable patch. Good crops for tubs and containers include strawberries, herbs, radish, lettuce and salads, tomatoes, courgette, spring onions, beetroot, chillies, chard, potatoes, french beans and cress.

Growing your own means eating seasonal crops with zero air-miles, perfect for reducing your personal carbon footprint.

Reduce meat in your diet

The livestock sector generates as much greenhouse gas emissions as all cars, trucks and automobiles on earth combined.

Reducing meat in our diets and shifting to more plant-based foods, is essential to combat climate change, soil, air and water pollution, ocean dead zones and other problems caused by industrial livestock production.

Deciding to eat fewer meals with meat or dairy each week can have a huge impact on our collective health and the health of the planet. Try:

• reducing your meat and dairy consumption by a few meals per week and telling five friends about your choice to find alternative proteins
• making fresh fruits and vegetables a bigger part of your diet
• buying local, sustainable or organic fresh produce whenever possible