A community group in Bingham, Nottinghamshire has been supporting Food Waste Action Week with the launch of a new initiative to reduce food waste.
Bingham Food Warriors has been set up by a group of volunteers from the Bingham Helping Hands community group with the aim of saving food that would otherwise be thrown away and redistributing it to local residents.
Each week volunteers collect surplus food from local businesses, including the Co-op and charity organisation FareShare, and use this to set up a pop-up food collection point at Bingham Town Council, The Old Courthouse.
The collection point is open on Saturday mornings between 9.30-10.30am and residents are invited to come along and help themselves.
The items that are on offer vary each week, but usually include tinned goods and pasta, fresh fruit and vegetables, as well as toiletries and other long-life items.
There are no fees or eligibility criteria, but residents are asked to only take what they will use to make sure the items don’t get thrown away at home.
Councillor Neil Clarke MBE, Chairman of the Transport and Environment Committee at Nottinghamshire County Council visited Bingham Food Warriors to thank them for their efforts to tackle climate change by reducing food waste.
“To help residents further with their key message of reducing food waste Nottinghamshire County Council and its waste partner Veolia have donated some handy measuring kits, containing a pasta measure, rice scoop and set of measuring spoons, making it easy to cook the right amount at mealtimes and ensure nothing gets wasted.
Elizabeth Hutchison, one of the volunteers at Bingham Food Warriors said: “Reducing food waste is so important in the battle against climate change and that is one of the reasons why we set up Bingham Food Warriors.
“We have been delighted with the local response to our pop-up shop. In our first week we gave away approximately 250kg of food, which would otherwise have been thrown in the bin.”
Councillor Neil Clarke MBE, Chairman of the Transport and Environment Committee at Nottinghamshire County Council said:
“During Food Waste Action Week it’s been revealed that as a nation, we throw away 6.6 million tonnes of household food waste a year. This food waste is responsible for nearly 25 million tonnes of CO2 emissions.
“Bingham Food Warriors is an excellent example of a community coming together to tackle climate change by reducing food waste. If we all make a similar effort by planning meals, only buying what we need and using up our leftovers, we can cut down the amount of food we throw away and minimise the impact we have on our planet.”
Throughout Food Waste Action Week (7-13 March) Nottinghamshire County Council and its recycling and waste partner Veolia have been joining the efforts to reduce waste, by sharing practical advice, food savvy behaviours and tips on how we can all easily reduce the amount of food we waste in our homes using the hashtag #NottsRecycles.
These include videos on food storage and ‘how to’ cook exciting meals using leftover ingredients.
