Neath Port Talbot Council forms partnership to reduce food waste

Neath Port Talbot Council has formed a partnership with Waste Awareness Wales (WAW) to promote the importance of reducing food waste through a number of joint events.

The events have been organised throughout August between Neath Port Talbot Council and WAW. The events will take place at Aberafan Shopping centre on August 24th, Neath town centre on August 26th and Pontardawe town centre on 28th August. Visitors will be able to ask any questions about food waste and find out about all the other recycling services the local authority offers.

WAW uses two campaigns, Recycle for Wales and Love Food Hate Waste, in order to communicate key messages tailored to local authorities.

Recycle for Wales provides advice on how to reduce, reuse and recycle your waste and the Love Food Hate Waste campaign provides practical advice on how to waste less food. Both campaigns help people to save money whilst benefiting the environment.

Research shows that confusion over date labels on food is a big contributor to food waste.  According to national statistics, only 36% of us correctly understand the term ‘Use By’ on food packaging therefore the other 64% of the population may end up throwing away food that is perfectly edible or potentially eating the food that may be unsafe.  This figure totals a staggering £5.6billion in just one year.

Environmental Health experts advise the following:
• The ‘Use By’ date is there for your safety and is only found on foods where there is a safety risk.  Therefore should not be eaten past this date, but it can be eaten or frozen right up to it.
• The ‘Best Before’ date relates to quality – it will be at its peak condition at this time – food will still be safe to eat after the date, but may not be at its best.

Leader of Neath Port Talbot Council, Ali Thomas OBE said, “I am pleased that we are working with Waste Awareness Wales to encourage food recycling. Increasing the percentage of waste recycled and composted is one of the Council’s top priorities and I would urge everyone in the county borough to do their bit towards reducing the amount of waste that goes to landfill unnecessarily.”