Interviews, production and editing: Kaska Hempel

In 2018 the UK threw away 9.5 million tonnes of food worth £13 billion. And that’s after it had left the farm gates. That’s such an incredible waste, which could have gone to feed many, many more people. Wasting so much food also feeds climate change. Globally, around a third of all food produced is lost or wasted, which contributes up to 10 per cent of total greenhouse gas emissions. If food waste were a country, it would have the third-biggest carbon footprint after the USA and China. It produces more emissions than all commercial flights.

Well today, we visit Tayport’s community fridge, which is helping to save and redistribute some of this perfectly good food locally, and which would otherwise end up in landfill. Thanks to many such initiatives across the country, food waste has already significantly reduced in the UK since 2007.

Kaska talks to The Larick Centre’s Rosie Coutts and Fife Council’s Iain Anderson about the nitty gritty of how this partnership started last year, how the project has developed so far and where it’s going next. You also hear about the experiences of the fridge volunteers and a few of what appear to be very satisfied users.

While projects such as community fridge are a great way of redistributing excess food from the retail sector, we have to remember the sector is only responsible for 3% of the total food wasted in the UK. Majority of the waste, a horrific 70%, happens in our homes! You can get some tips on avoiding this and saving a fair amount of money in the process on the Love Food, Hate Waste website.

Resources

• Tayport Community Fridge Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/tayportcommunityfridge
• Statistics on food waste in the UK in 2018 from WRAP https://wrap.org.uk/media-centre/press-releases/wasting-food-feeds-climate-change-food-waste-action-week-launches-help#
• FareShare https://fareshare.org.uk/
• 70% of food is wasted in our homes - the Love food, hate waste has great ideas on how to reduce food waste at home. https://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/