Bank holiday waste collections
There are no changes to your waste collections this bank holiday weekend. However collections may take place earlier than usual so please put your containers out the night before.
Avoiding food waste: reduce, reuse and repair
Food waste makes up nearly a quarter of the contents of the blue bags filled by households across the borough.
As a last resort you can use your caddy* to send food waste to be recycled but there are many steps you can take to avoid creating it in the first place.
*Don't forget - there's still time to win a fancy metal food waste caddy with a filter to remove odours in your home, alongside other food waste reduction tools such as spaghetti measurers, by signing up or logging in to your Greenredeem account and completing the pledge to recycle food waste.
 Tackling food waste: Reduce
The first step to cutting down on food waste is reducing the amount of food that we buy but then don't use. Our top tips include:
- Avoid bulk buys and 'buy one get one free' deals unless you’re sure you need them. Although more convenient and/or cheaper, you don't save money if it ends up in the bin. Alternatively, share those deals (and savings) with friends.
- Don't go on a food shop just because you always do it on a certain day. If you have enough food, then use that up first and shop a couple of days later.
- Keep track of the things that you already have, so that if you see a deal when you're shopping, you know if it's something you need or not.
- Check use-by dates when buying fresh food so that it doesn’t go out of date before you have a chance to use it.
- Store your food properly to extend its life-span - around two-thirds of food waste in the United Kingdom is due to food spoilage. The Love Food, Hate Waste campaign has an A-Z of food storage, including whether it can be frozen and best ways to use up excess.
- Lists, lists, lists!
- Make a meal plan for the week and make a shopping list based on the ingredients you don't have in the house.
- Keep stock of what you already have, so that if you see a deal when you're shopping, you know if it's something you're running low on, or if you're adding two more tins of beans to the 12 you already have.
- Keep track of foods you're throwing away so that you can adjust how many you buy. Although buying larger quantities may be cheaper, you won't save money if you are regularly throwing things out.
 Tackling food waste: Reuse
It isn't always possible to reduce the amount we buy, so the next best thing is looking at how we can re-use some of the items that might otherwise go to waste.
- Freeze food:
- Freeze extra portions when you cook too much – it saves waste, money and effort later down the line.
- Vegetables that are a bit too soft to eat on their own can be frozen and added to smoothies, soups, casseroles or other sauces.
- Fresh herbs can be frozen and used to make sauces.
- To peel, or not to peel:
- Potatoes don't always need to be peeled. If you're making a dish such as mashed potatoes or home cooked chips, leave the skins on. Reduce waste and get the extra nutritional benefits.
- Apples can have their skin left on when using in salads or desserts, such as apple crumble.
- Orange and lemon peel are regular ingredients in many baking recipes. Either dehydrate them or turn them into candied peel so that they're ready for when you need them.
- Many other skins are tasty and good for you, including carrots, cucumbers, mangoes, kiwis and aubergine.
- Bread:
- Bread can easily be frozen and popped in the toaster straight from the freezer.
- The end slices of a loaf of bread are usually thicker and so make great mini pizza bases, or soldiers for your dippy eggs.
- Many parts of fruit and vegetables that we chop off during meal prep can be eaten. Some tips are:
- Cauliflower leaves are edible - you could add them to your cauliflower cheese or cover with oil and spices and roast.
- Carrot top greens are great made into a pesto.
- Cabbage hearts can be shredded into salads, soups and stews.
- Herb stems can be chopped, mixed and sprinkled into dips, sauces or onto savoury dishes.
- The green parts of leeks and spring onions can be used in exactly the same way as the white parts.
- Alternatively, you could keep a big sandwich bag in the freezer to add your odds and ends and once full, boil up with some stock and blitz into a lovely homemade soup.
- Preserving foods through pickling, drying, fermenting and curing can drastically extend the life of fresh produce.
You could also re-purpose your food into beauty products. Did you know that used coffee grounds make a great body scrub when mixed with a bit of sugar and coconut oil? Or an over-ripe banana mixed with a splash of olive oil makes a great foot conditioner? And egg yolks can work wonders for your hair.
 Tackling food waste: Repair
Repair isn't often a word we often associate with food, but it is perfectly possible to rejuvenate or repair dishes and ingredients that haven't gone to plan.
- Pop wrinkled and wilted vegetables in a bowl of cold water.
- If you've burnt a cake, you can use a grater or serrated knife to scrape away the burnt layer. If that leaves your cake looking a bit sad and misshapen, break into chunks and make a quick trifle.
- If you burn a tomato-based sauce, add a teaspoon of butter or peanut butter to help hide the burnt taste.
- If you've overcooked your vegetables, dunk them in ice cold water to immediately stop the cooking process. If they are too mushy to eat as they are, drizzle some oil and pop them in the oven to crisp up, or mash them. You could also save them for another day and add to soups or stews.
- Learn how to rescue dishes if you were too heavy handed with the seasoning. Too much salt? Dilute with more water and if necessary, add a thickening agent like cornstarch, or add other flavourings such as herbs, spices, citrus or sugar to counteract and mask the taste. Too much spice? Add a dairy product such as cream, yoghurt, milk or cheese.
Upcoming editions
Due to the pre-election period, our next newsletter will be on 27 April and will be on the topic of garden waste, with the edition after, on 11 May, the second and final part of tackling food waste.
If you currently have your garden waste collected, please keep an eye out next week as you will get a letter and/or email about renewing your subscription.
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