European Week for Waste and Reduction (EWWR) 2024

Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council is proud to support the European Week for Waste and Reduction (EWWR) which is a campaign encouraging us to reduce, reuse and recycle as much of the waste we produce as possible.

Feed your family, save money and help the environment by reducing your food waste at home and recycling any food that cannot be eaten every week.

This year’s theme is: FOOD WASTE IS OUT OF TASTE

According to the Waste and Resources Action programme (WRAP), 6.4 million tonnes of edible food is wasted in the UK every year.

This is equal to 15 billion meals which is enough to feed the entire UK population 3 meals a day for 11 weeks.

The amount of food wasted in UK homes causes 18 million tonnes of green house gas emissions to be released into the atmosphere, polluting the air we breathe.

In addition to this, the average UK family wastes £60 per month by buying and throwing away food.

We can all make a difference by:

• Checking what we have before we shop.
• Shopping smarter to prevent us wasting food by only buying what we need.
• Meal planning
• Storing food properly to make it go further.
• Freeze leftovers so they can be enjoyed again.

Visit www.lovefoodhatewaste.com for tips on food storage, recipes, use by and best before dates to see what changes you can make at home.

Remember to recycle all food that cannot be eaten in the weekly kerbside food recycling scheme.

Never place food in the refuse bin as food left to rot in the refuse bin will attract vermin and release methane into the atmosphere polluting the air we breathe.

Furthermore, the Council is working hard to achieve the 70% recycling target set by Welsh Government. To help us do this, we routinely check residents bins and will issue fines to those who are still placing food and other recyclables in the refuse bin.

Recycling is important to keep these materials in circulation to save resources for future generations lowering the demand on the Earth’s natural resources when making new products.

Recycling food waste prevents methane gas being leaked into the atmosphere. These gases are captured and used to create energy.

Do the right thing, put recyclables in the correct bag, box or recycling bin!