Love food hate waste campaign

Cumbria County Council will be working with the national Love Food Hate Waste campaign in the run up to Christmas to help residents in the county have a stress-free festive season with good food for less.

The campaign will be asking food lovers to be less wasteful with the food that they love over the Christmas period and will provide tips on how to turn leftovers into festive dishes and make frugal use of their freezers.

There will be a series of roadshows taking place in Cumbria`s major town centres on the following dates where people can seek advice on reducing their food waste:

* 28th Nov in Barrow, 10am-2pm, indoor market

* 1st Dec in Penrith, 10am-3pm, market, town centre

* 2nd Dec in Kendal, 10am-3pm, Market Place

* 3rd Dec in Ulverston, 10am-3pm market, town centre

* 8th Dec in Millom, 10am-3pm Tesco supermarket

* 10th Dec in Whitehaven, 10am-3pm, market, town centre

And to help encourage people to visit the stand the Love Food Hate Waste experts at our roadshows will be dressed up as life size fruit and veg.

The national campaign, delivered locally by Resource Cumbria, helps homes cut back on the food they throw away and has reported that two million households in the UK are making savings of £164 each. This has helped lead to a saving nationwide of nearly £300 million.

This reduction in waste is also great for the environment with a saving of 137,000 tonnes of rubbish and a reduction in 600,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases being emitted. This is the carbon impact equivalent of taking 100,000 return flights to Australia out of the skies.

Councillor Tim Knowles, Cumbria County Council Cabinet Member for waste management, said: "Reducing the amount of food we waste in Cumbria is a great way to save money and help our environment. Christmas is the time of year when friends and family get together, diets go out of the window and everyone stocks up on their yuletide favourites. Festivities can often lead to a surplus of food and an unnecessary dent in our pockets.

"Producing, storing and getting the food to our homes uses a lot of energy and resources -all of which are wasted when food gets binned. If we stopped throwing food away nationally it would save the equivalent of at least 20 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. That`s like taking one in every four cars off our roads."

Love Food Hate Waste provides a range of "glamour from nothing" recipes for entertaining and tips on how to save money and enjoy more of the food we buy at www.lovefoodhatewaste.com (external link).

If you have a question about resources or recycling please call one of the following numbers
Cumberland Council: 0300 373 3730
Westmorland & Furness Council: 0300 373 3300
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