Over the next six months, the “Love Food Hate Waste” campaign is targeting a 100,000 tonne reduction in the amount of unwanted food being thrown out by householders.
However, the minister told letsrecycle.com that she was not sure if other councils would “need” extra funding as they already had a block grant for services from central government, and would be financially rewarded for collecting food waste under the Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme (LATS).
This view may be contested by councils, with the Local Government Association recently labelling the latest block grant offered for local services as the “worst financial settlement in a decade” (see letsrecycle.com story).
Mrs Ruddock said: “The more biodegradable waste local authorities direct from landfill the better for them financially. I'm not sure they need special funding to do that.”
The comments came as the minister gave her support to minimising and collecting food waste as an important means of tackling climate change in the UK, in line with Defra's Waste Strategy for England 2007.
She said: “Climate change is the greatest challenge we face. This love food hate waste campaign is very timely and very welcome in trying to produce more behavioural change and awareness of the link between waste and climate change.”
Minimisation
We are looking at the waste composition of over 2,000 households to understand which major food groups are being wasted and at what life stage.
Mark Barthel, WRAP
At the event, more details emerged about WRAP's £2 million campaign – which is its first major drive focused at waste minimisation, rather than recycling or composting.
Launched simultaneously in England, Scotland and Wales, the initiative is expected to minimise food waste arisings by 100,000 tonnes by the end of March 2008.
Mark Barthel, a special advisor to WRAP who has been working towards the campaign for 18 months, explained that a whole series of promotional work was planned to get the food waste reduction message across.
This includes publicity at the BBC's Good Food Show in Birmingham later this month, and promoting food waste reduction over Christmas and the New Year around the idea of a New Year's Resolution.
In January, WRAP will also be unveiling the results of food waste protocol project in which it is currently looking at household waste composition in detail to identify specific waste streams which need targeting, he explained.
He said: “We are looking at the waste composition of over 2,000 households to understand which major food groups are being wasted and at what life stage. That will help us to hone done some of the message of the campaign. I can't wait to see the results and I think it is going to be really interesting.”
At the event, WRAP received support from celebrity chefs such as Ainsley Harriott, who staged a Ready-Steady-Cook style cook-off using kitchen left-overs which are often wasted.
Mr Harriott said: “The amount of food we all throw away is criminal and we all need to take action and start changing our behaviour. That's why I'm supporting Love Food Hate Waste.”
Local
Around the country, WRAP's campaign has already been taken up by local authorities advertising it through posters on buses, billboards and bus stops.
In Kent, all 14 local authorities announced they would be supporting the initiative.
Councillor Keith Ferrin, chair of the Kent Waste Partnership said: “The unity between the 14 councils in Kent is a strong symbol of the importance of tackling food waste. We all want people to enjoy the food we grow and buy. At the same time we need everyone to realise that there are environmental and financial costs to wasting food. This innovative campaign aims to get people talking about the issue in every kitchen and dining room in Kent.”
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