Householders across the north coast are being urged to help cut down on food waste, and offered an incentive to do so.
The Love Food, Hate Waste Challenge, recently launched across the region by North East Waste and its member councils, offers residents a chance to win a $100 local food hamper by managing food shopping, cooking and storage practices.
Tweed Shire Council’s environmental education officer, Sascha Piotrkowski, said an average of one in five shopping bags of groceries ends up in the rubbish bin in NSW alone.
Ms Piotrkowski said that amounted to more than $1,000 per household each year that could otherwise be saved through better ways of managing our food shopping, cooking and storage practices.
‘Food waste is not only a cost to our back pockets; it is also a cost to our environment through wasted resources to produce that food,’ she said.
‘The water, energy, materials and fuel used to harvest, transport, process, package, distribute and market wasted food is also wasted.
‘Tools, tips, and delicious recipes on how to use leftovers and where to find other resources are available to those who join The Love Food Hate Waste Challenge Facebook page,’ she said.
To sign up to take the Love Food Hate Waste Challenge, visit www.newaste.org.au.
Competition entries to go into the draw for the $100 local food hamper will close Friday 10 July, but residents can still sign up to the challenge and Facebook page after this date.
A Love Your Leftovers cookbook is also up for grabs to seven North Coast residents who sign up to the challenge and Facebook page.
The Love Food Hate Waste Challenge is supported by the Environmental Trust as part of the NSW EPA’s Waste Less Recycle More initiative, funded from the waste levy.
