The second annual Food Waste Action Week began yesterday and borough residents are encouraged to play their part.

The week aims to raise people’s awareness of the huge impact of household food waste on climate change and share practical advice, food savvy behaviours and tips on how to easily reduce food waste at home.

The UK throws away 6.6 million tonnes of household food waste every year. This food waste is responsible for nearly 25 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions, equivalent to 5.4% of the UK’s territorial emissions. The majority, 4.5 million tonnes, is food that could have been eaten and is worth approximately £14 billion (or £60 a month for an average family with two children).

Love Food Hate Waste found that 81 per cent of UK citizens are concerned about climate change, but only 32 per cent see a clear link with food waste. This year, they found that the public's relationships with its freezers has become particularly frosty with many people not knowing how to safely freeze and defrost their food. Councillor Karen Shakespeare, cabinet member for public realm, said:

“Reducing food waste at home is a really easy way all of us can play a part in reducing the impact of climate change.

“People can also make a difference by composting their food waste. Vegetable peelings, apple cores, tea bags – these can all go into your composter, while food scraps, cooked food, meat and bones can be composted in a green johanna.

“We are working with Great Green Systems to offer our residents up to 40% off home composting equipment, just check our dudleyrecycles for more information.”

Love Food Hate Waste is keen to show that used properly, the freezer is the king of the kitchen. In fact, freezing and defrosting just three key meat items that are commonly not used in time (fresh chicken, bacon, and sausages) could reduce waste of those items by as much as 15,000 tonnes per annum. And, when it comes to defrosting, busy households can avoid a lengthy overnight defrost by using their microwave instead – as people use a toaster to defrost sliced bread from the freezer.

Find out about composting and local offers https://www.dudleyrecycles.org.uk/composting

To order a discounted composter, green johanna, tumbler and other composting resources visit to greatgreensystems.com.