Wednesday 25 April 2012

Green Drinks 3rd May - Food Waste

Green Drinks
Time and Date:Tuesday May 3rd, doors open 18:00, talk at 19.00 (and first Tuesday of every month)
Meeting Point: Top floor of Messrs Maguire, 2 Burgh Quay 

This month the Dublin Branch and Leafliving heard Mindy O'Brien from Voice Ireland speak about the establishment of an National Food Bank to eliminate food waste and provide relief for those in need. Food waste has a major impact on the environment through lost energy, CO2 and Methane emissions and water consumption, with tonnes of good edible food discarded by food shops, supermarkets and catering establishments daily. Internationally, there are 1 billion people starving and over 1 billion tonnes of food wasted annually.VOICE are looking to link both the environmental objective of reducing methane-releasing food waste from landfills and the humanitarian objective of feeding the hungry.


Mindy also spoke about how we can all reduce our food waste. The average household throws away about one third of all the food it buys - a huge waste. Some tips are to think about special offers that give two for one and avoid them if we know that the extra food just won't be eaten. Another tip is to get creative with leftovers that are still good to eat rather than just throw them out - there are plenty of cookbooks out there with suitable recipes. For families a good idea is to put the food on the table in bowls and let people help themselves, rather than dishing out individual portions onto each plate. This approach is proven to cut down on the amount of food that gets left on the plate. Also of course households should do their best to buy local and organic wherever possible, and avoid food with too many air miles!