Victoria's Green Matters - 2nd January 2014

Deal With IT's Secretary Victoria Nicholls writes a regular column in the East Kent Mercury:

We continue to hear about the amount of food that is wasted in our modern world. We also continue to hear about the growth of Food Banks around the country and it is difficult to accept that so much food is thrown away when so many people don’t have any.

Of course, it is not only here that food is wasted; several studies have shown that between one third and one half of all food produced in the world is thrown away and it has been estimated that this amounts to 1.2 – 2 billion tonnes each year.

We all know that that there are many people worldwide who are malnourished but still food is wasted. Not only is this a scandal but the global carbon footprint of food waste is 3.3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide. It is now imperative that we lower our carbon emissions if we are to have any chance to slow down the climate change that is already happening. It has taken a long time for governments and organisations to realise how serious the problem is but at last action is being taken in Europe and around the world.

It is very strange but there is a majority of people in all walks that think food packaging waste is a greater danger than food waste itself. After all, the packaging has served its purpose, preserved the food and is mostly recycled but perfectly good food, produced at great cost, is just thrown away.

Victoria Nicholls. Transition Deal.