Solutions For You
As an individual, there are several actions you can take to have a positive impact on the food waste problem. Encourage your community, workplace and local institutions to adopt sustainable practices and raise awareness about the impacts of food waste.
Here we highlight food waste fighting ideas and how to action them.
Discover our tips below and follow them to help to save our planet
1. Responsible Shopping
Solution: Plan your meals and make a shopping list before going to the grocery store. This way, you buy only what you need and avoid impulse purchases that may lead to food waste.
Action: Before going grocery shopping, create a weekly meal plan, then write down the ingredients required for those meals. Stick to the list while shopping to minimise the chances of overbuying.
Use this solution as a fun way to prepare for the week ahead. Try something new and use some different vegetables or ingredients to change it up. This is an excellent way to expand your flavour pallet whilst most efficiently using your time in the grocery store
2. Proper storage
Solution: Families and individuals can extend the freshness of perishable items by storing them correctly. Using airtight containers for left overs prevents them from spoiling quickly.
Action: Store cut fruits and vegetables in airtight containers to maintain their crispness and prevent spoilage.
Hint: Label this container or vessel to ensure you have a visual stimuli to remind you or your family to eat whats inside.
Investing in reusable food storage is an excellent way in which you can help to implement circular economy principles. By reducing , re-using and re-cycling you are minimising your environmental footprint.
3. Love your Leftovers
Solution: Leftovers can be transformed into new delicious meals, saving both money and food. Getting creative in the kitchen is both fun and innovative.
Action: You can get creative by turning leftover roasted vegetables into a hearty vegetable soup, or using yesterdays cooked chicken for a flavourful chicken salad. Vegetable peels and trimmings can be used to make flavourful broths or stocks. Fruit peels can be dried and used for making infused water or teas.
Hint: If there are more leftovers than can be consumed immediately, they can be frozen for future meals, reducing the need to cook from scratch every day.
4. Composting
Solution: If there is enough space in your home, you can divert fruit, vegetable scraps and leftovers from the landfill by composting them.
Action: Utilise the information on composting on the Green For You website to start your composting journey. Compost your left overs using a worm farm or small composting bin at your home.
Composting enriches the soil and reduces greenhouse gas emissions.
Hint: You can compost coffee grounds, eggshells, and vegetable peels to create a nutrient rich compost for your garden. P.s the more variety the better.. Citrus, chilli and almost anything organic can be composted. Just make sure to follow our composting advice and guidelines.
5. Support food rescue initiatives
Solution: You can contribute to reducing food waste and help others in need by supporting or volunteering with local food rescue organisations.
Action: Donating surplus food to organisations such as OzHarvest or Liberation Larder (Byron Bay) you can help to ensure that perfectly edible food is not wasted but reaches those who are food insecure.
Hint: Keep your eyes peeled for applications such as “Too Good To Go” who help connect individuals to cheap food that would otherwise be wasted. If you know of a cafe or restaurant with excess food, you can play your part by helping to connect this source of food to a food rescue organisation.
6. Educate others
Solution: Raising awareness about food waste is essential to create a larger impact. By starting discussions and sharing knowledge, you can inspire others to join the cause.
Action: Share your tips and tricks with others, show them examples of your food waste prevention behaviour and highlight the steps you have taken with your family, friends and colleagues. By doing so you can help them acknowledge the consequences of food waste and support them with the simple steps they can take to reduce it.
Hint: If you are in an office environment or shared space, you can implement a food waste solution to minimise the environment impact your company or workplace is having. Use the resources available within this website to promote positive behaviours or get in touch to have a food waste solution developed for you.
7. advocate for change
Solution: Support policies and initiatives that promote food waste reduction at various levels.
Action: Engage with local food waste hero’s, join a composting community or begin to question your most frequently visited about their efforts to prevent food waste.
By becoming an advocate for change, you can influence larger systemic shifts and start to make the noise we need to hear. Your efforts provide your community with the motivation to create change. You are the difference we need!