What a WAS T E RECIPES VICKI RAVLICH-HORAN | IMAGES ASHLEE DECAIRES
Every year the average Kiwi household sends 89kgs of edible food to landfill. This figure does not include food scraps that can’t be eaten, like egg shells and banana peels. It also doesn’t include food wasted at the source or through our supply chain i.e. what producers, distributors, supermarkets and restaurants throw away. The problem is huge! But the real problem does not lie in the sheer waste: the waste of resources it takes to grow, store and transport food or the waste of money which we throw away each time we waste food. The real problem lies in the fallacy that because it’s compostable there is no harm sending it to landfill. Food waste is the second largest cause of methane pollution. When you throw those potato peels or stale bread out and it ends up in landfill, it doesn’t decompose as nature designed. Instead, starved of oxygen, it breaks down anaerobically, producing methane gas, a greenhouse gas 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide. ONE-THIRD OF THE WORLD’S FOOD GOES TO WASTE CONTRIBUTING TO 6.7% OF THE WORLD’S CARBON EMISSIONS—IF FOOD WASTE WAS A COUNTRY, IT WOULD BE THE THIRD WORST COUNTRY BEHIND THE US AND CHINA. Tackling food waste has a big impact and is a lot less complex than recycling, it’s easier than taking public transport and cheaper than installing solar panels. It’s something you can do now! Plus, if you divert your compostable waste from landfill, it breaks down as
PAGE 38 | WWW.NOURISHMAGAZINE.CO.NZ
nature intended, returning the nutrients to the earth, eliminating the need for artificial fertilisers and helping us to grow nutrient dense food. COMPOSTING ‘WASTE’ IS NATURE’S ORIGINAL CARBON RECYCLING SYSTEM. What Can We Do? The first step is to reduce your waste from the get-go; shop to a list, preferably one created from a meal plan, only buying what you need. Those ‘buy two get one free’ offers seem like great value—except when you end up throwing half away. Wayne Good from Arkanda suggests you “shop as you need, not as a habit”. Wayne says, “My fridge always has very little in it except milk, condiments, butter, cheese etc.” This method requires a lot of discipline! “It’s very easy to go in for a bottle of milk and come out with sixty dollars’ worth of stuff,” admits Wayne. Buying just what you need is behind Huckleberry’s refill hub. Not only does buying from bulk bins cut down on packaging (as you can bring your own), but it means you can buy just what you need. Emma from Falls Retreat believes having a garden is a great solution, as you can pick what you need when you need it.
Wayne’s method of shopping often and only for what you need eliminates food going off before you can use it, but if shopping daily doesn’t work for you, you need to learn to store your food correctly to get as long a life out of it as possible. Samsung’s ingenious Family Hub fridge helps you with your shopping list, sending it to your phone. It can also alert you when food is about to expire. There are a number of great products for storing food from sachets that absorb the ethalene in your vege bin or these ingenious Fresh Paper Sheets (available at www.gildededge. co.nz), which also keep your fruit and vegetables as well as your bread and baked goods fresher longer. Your freezer is also a great tool with so many foods, from egg whites to ripe bananas, bread to leftovers all fine to be frozen and extending their life for months. Just be sure to label everything clearly! Frozen lime juice looks just like egg whites—a lesson I learnt the hard way.
