College praised for leading on ways to reduce food waste in kitchens
36 per cent of waste in Somerset is thrown away in its original packaging
Last updated 13th Mar 2023
The Environment Minister - and Taunton Deane MP - has been speaking to students about how to stop food waste.
Rebecca Pow visited Bridgwater and Taunton College, where she even helped make a soup, as part of Food Waste Action Week
It's though the average family throws away £60 in food a month that could have been eaten, or £720 a year.
Ms Pow oversees waste and recyling decisions at Defra as part of her ministerial brief.
Last year more than 46,000 tonnes of food waste was collected from Somerset's kerbsides, with an estimated carbon impact of 172,000 tonnes - the equivalent of an extra 66,000 vehicles on the road for a year.
28 per cent of food thrown out in Somerset couldn’t be eaten - like eggshells and bones - but 36 per cent was thrown away in its original packaging.
The Government, through partner organisation WRAP as part of their Resource Action Fund, has been trying to find ways to avoid food waste in the first place.
Last year Defra wrote to all waste disposal authorities with a questionnaire to determine “barriers to introducing weekly food waste collections and how these could be overcome”.
Defra is also 'waging a war on waste' backing the 'waste knot' campaign, which has an 'ambition to make sure the farmer is paid and receives a commercial value for produce at the same time as helping the hospitality sector to enhance its sustainability credentials'.