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Salisbury residents asked to Love Food Hate Waste
People in Salisbury were given tips on cutting down on their food waste when a special exhibition came to town.
More than a third of the rubbish in Wiltshire bins is taken up with food waste from bones and peelings right through to loaves of bread, pasta and salad.
Now Recycle for Wiltshire is supporting the national 'Love Food Hate Waste' campaign in a bid to reduce the 30,000 tonnes of food waste that currently end up in landfill in Wiltshire each year.
Campaigners were at Salisbury Library and out and about at the popular city-centre market on Tuesday January 29 to promote ways in which people can cut back on their food waste.
They handed out recipe ideas for left overs, tips on how to shop smart and better ways of storing food to stop it going off.
People were also be able to get hold of a free jute reusuable shopping bag which, just like a lot of food waste, can go on the compost at the end of its life.
Toby Sturgis, Wiltshire County Council's cabinet member for planning and waste, said: "There are lots of reasons why so much food is thrown away.
"We have got out of the habit of cooking leftovers and we don't store food properly so it ends up being wasted. This campaign is packed with commonsense ideas about making the most of your food as well as helping the environment. For example, shopping sensibly with a list so you don't end up with food you don't need."
Salisbury Library is mounting a display of books on recycling themes to coincide with the campaign.
Wiltshire waste services manager Andy Conn said: "Research shows that for every three bags of food shopping we buy, on average one bag ends up in the bin. That's around £400 a year wasted.
"At the moment we're all paying for that waste to end up in a landfill where it gives off the greenhouse gas methane. There's got to be a better way - and this campaign aims to give some simple suggestions on how we can all tackle this."
County-wide the campaign has leaflets and posters as well as lots of information on the recycleforwiltshire.com website to promote ways to cut back on food waste. It already has the backing of organisations such as the Women's Institute and Wiltshire Wildlife Trust.
The Women's Institute is launching its own 'Love Food Champions' initiative to provide on the ground support on how to minimise food waste.
"If every individual plays their part in just three simple ways it would make a real difference. We need to ensure we buy no more than we need, make the most of our leftovers and compost what's left," said Maggie Simons of Wiltshire WI.
People can find out much about the campaign at www.recycleforwiltshire.com
ENDS
Contributor : communications communications@wiltshire.gov.uk
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