Recycling officers from Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion have been giving Teifi Valley residents some ‘food for thought’!
They teamed up for an awareness-raising event at the Pwerdy Powerhouse Community and Arts Centre in Pontweli.
Officers were on hand to give residents information on food recycling collections in their area as well as advice on how they could reduce their food waste.
Helping them out was local chef Hazel Thomas who cooked up a storm with some recipes for using up leftovers including a quick tomato and lentil soup and sausage special fried rice.
Carmarthenshire County Council waste minimisation/recycling officer Karen McNeil said: “A number of residents came along to talk to us about the green bin/blue bag scheme, some had queries about what can be put in the blue bag, others wanted advice on what they could use to line their green food bins, and some just had general questions on recycling.
“We want to make it as easy as possible for residents to recycle and we also want to make sure they are using their green bins every week. It is important we reduce the amount of food waste going to landfill – even if householders do not have that much food waste – as it generates methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, which is even more damaging than carbon dioxide.”
Ceredigion County Council will shortly be introducing a countywide food waste collection. Waste minimisation assistant Adrian Keenan said “The joint awareness day gave residents living on the border of the two counties the opportunity to find out more about the collection service in their area especially for Ceredigion residents to ask questions about the new collection service starting countywide in Ceredigion on November 15.”
Figures show that in the UK we throw away 8.3 million tonnes of food and drink every year. Not only is it harmful to the environment but it is means we are wasting a total of £12 billion on food and drink every year – that’s £480 per household per year or £50 a month.
Carmarthenshire’s executive board member for the environment Councillor Philip Hughes said: “We must reduce the amount of waste we throw away and recycle more. It makes sense to work with Ceredigion to encourage residents to use their food bins and recycle as much of their waste as possible.”
