Bucks Food Revolution: Clearing the plate! Reducing food waste in the home

Did you know it costs more than £430,000 to dispose of food waste in Buckinghamshire each year?
In this Bucks Food Revolution session, we will be exploring what happens with the food that isn’t eaten in the home.
Andrew Jenkins - Waste Promotions Lead Officer from Buckinghamshire Recycles, will be telling us ways to reuse and recycle our food waste through different schemes and projects are currently running in Buckinghamshire from the Zero Waste Map to the 'Spoiled Rotten' campaign.
Shelia Bees is an advocate for better food management in the home as well as a keen Community Gardener. With a qualification in Ecology, Shelia was inspired to start Grow Together Bucks CIC in 2020 to expand their hard work across the county. She also started the Wycombe arm of the ‘Grow to Give’ allotment surplus scheme and started the flagship Urban Harvest Bucks ‘garden gleans’ saving fruit, berries and nuts in public and private spaces from being wasted. Turning abandoned produce into juices, chutneys and pickles supporting local food banks. Shelia will be sharing some key-ways to manage food waste in the home. Shelia will also be joined by local food waste prevention mastermind Mary Runackles
The average household throws away two pounds of organic waste each day, such as: vegetable cuttings, fruit peel, egg shells and coffee grounds. These can instead be composted along with garden waste. To look at how we can respond better to this, we will also be joined by experienced gardener Richard Andrews from Grow Together Bucks CIC. Richard will cover the basics of garden composting, including some great hints and tips to safely manage your garden waste, what you can achieve with indoor or smaller space alternatives and what composting gives back to the soil and the benefit to the environment.
This workshop forms part of the collection of sessions for the Bucks Food Revolution! online event which took place on the 21st & 22nd November 2020. A program of exciting and unusual events exploring our relationship with food, from foraging berries in the outdoors, to waste-saving tips and recipes, to a deep dive into how we can work together to protect nature and our planet. We will be hearing from local experts and enthusiasts on growing food, understanding how what you eat affects your health and well-being; as well as discussing the pitfalls of food waste and how to avoid them at home. We are grateful to all those helping Feedback Global's Food Citizens project to deliver this event.