food waste

In September, WRAP Scotland held a conference  to share the findings of their study of the food and drink Scottish households are throwing away.  Kate Streib, RoWAN Project Officer for Inverness, attended on behalf of RoWAN to hear the findings first hand.

Here are some of WRAP's facts:

Between us, we throw away 570,000 tonnes of food and drink each year.  Over two thirds of what we throw away could have been eaten if we had planned, stored and managed it better!  Wait, there's more: half of the good food put in the bin is untouched and 1 in 7 items is still in its packaging.  At least £18 million worth is still in date. Read more

More than 80 first years from Alness Academy joined Margie and Lizbeth in whizzing up smoothies at Badaguish Outdoor Education Centre in the Cairngorms. The pupils are at the Centre for three days taking part in a range of activities including gorge walking and mountain biking. ROWAN's role was to make the links between the quality of our environment, climate change and the part that wasting food plays in it.

Pupils and their families are challenged to complete a week's Food Waste Diary, to help them see what food they waste and how to reduce it, as part of their John Muir Trust awards. RoWAN will follow up the results with the school later. Read more

Little Wrigglers wormery provided by Master Composter volunteer Heather, proved a popular attraction for both grown ups and children. The worms digest food waste and turn this into useful compost.

Many local and overseas visitors came to the RoWAN stall and it was great to hear several tell of how they have stopped throwing out so much waste. One visitor said, 'Stopping doing a weekly shop and just shopping each day for what we need really has reduced our food waste and saved us money'.