The City Services Directorate has launched a new campaign encouraging Canberrans to love food and hate waste.
Announced by the Minister for City Services, Chris Steel, the Love Food Hate Waste campaign aims to educate everyday Canberrans on meaningful action they can take to reduce their food waste and help households and families save thousands of dollars off their annual food bills.
“Education is a critical component to the successful roll out of a future food waste collection scheme,” Mr Steel said.
“Before we recycle food, we need to work to reduce the amount of food waste we are producing in the first place,” he said.
“26,000 tonnes of household food waste goes to the ACT landfill each year but this can be reduced by following some simple tips.”
Mr Steel said the campaign tips would help households save money, as well as helping the ACT become more climate friendly by reducing greenhouse gas emissions emitted when organic material went to landfill.
“By rethinking the food we throw out it is estimated that Canberra households can save up to $3,800 every year off their food bills – that’s up to $73 each week,” he said.
“On average, Australian households end up throwing out 20 per cent of the groceries they buy, or one in every five bags.”
He said reducing food waste was as simple as making a meal plan, fine-tuning shopping lists, sticking to the list, storing food well and using leftovers.
“We want Canberrans to know what can be achieved if we make simple changes and to know that there is avoidable food waste,” Mr Steel said.
Further tips and ideas from the Directorate’s Love Food Hate Waste campaign can be accessed at this PS News link.
