BBC ALBA HIGHLIGHTS THE WAR AGAINST FOOD WASTE
Trusadh - ‘Sgrios: Waste not, want not’
Monday 31st May 9pm
Campaigns to tackle Scotland’s food waste, which costs the average household £430 per annum, are highlighted in a revealing new BBC ALBA documentary.
‘Sgrios: Waste not, want not’ chronicles the efforts of individuals and groups across the country to stop food reaching landfill sites rather than the nation’s dinner plates.
With Scots wasting a startling 570,000 tonnes of food annually, more than two thirds of which could have been eaten, efforts to stop food waste have both an economic and environmental impact.
The documentary hears from a wide range of people, from students who get much of their food from skips, to an organisation which donates leftover shop food to the homeless and from a family keen to learn how to shop wisely and avoid waste.
Student Gordon Maloney, 19, practises freeganism or skip diving - salvaging food which supermarkets have thrown away, sometimes because it is slightly out of date or the packaging is damaged.
The Edinburgh teenager, who is studying at Aberdeen University, is passionate about not wasting food. Gordon said: "For me, freeganism is living outside a world that depends on profit. Shops throw a lot of food away and people are dying of starvation while we have enough food to last us weeks."
Gordon searches through supermarket skips regularly with his friends, who have been surprised at the good quality of much of what they find. Whatever food Gordon finds but does not need himself he gives away to an organic University cafe run by volunteers. He explains: "We are only doing small things but they are important things. We show that you can survive without shopping every day and giving the shops your money. It also shows you can make do at a local level in your community."
The Ferrigan family, from Currie in Edinburgh, have been following an ethical lifestyle for years, composting, growing their own vegetables and eating small portions so as not to waste. Dad Mike, admits he gets fed up that so many people are still casually wasting food and energy: "I get very frustrated. I have been involved in the green movement for about 25 years and the message is only now slowly getting through. We need to realise that it's not going backwards to think about growing your own food and using less energy. It's about having a responsible attitude to the world and the future of the planet."
Daughter Mairi, adds: "It's not hard to just take the amount of food you're going to eat and not throw the rest away. I care for the environment and I worry about how the world is going to be when I grow up."
Edinburgh Cyrenians Good Food Programme, which celebrates its tenth anniversary this year, saves food from landfill on a much larger scale - around nine tonnes a week. The charity gives out leftover food donated by shops to more than 40 homeless projects in Edinburgh.
Programme manager Carol-Anne Alcorn says: "We need to improve the nutrition and choice for people who are marginalised in their diet by homelessness and social exclusion. We saw the evidence that there was food going to landfill that was fit for purpose so joining the two together made absolute sense. It was a win-win situation. People's lives and diets were improved and landfill was reduced."
For the group Food Not Bombs, the aim is less focused on how many tonnes of food they can save from landfill but more about the effect they can have on changing attitudes towards food waste. They collect small quantities of leftover food from shops around once a month before preparing it and handing it out free on the streets to raise awareness of the issue. Jake Butcher, of Marchmont, Edinburgh, says: "What we are doing here is important but it's not hugely significant in terms of that there are tonnes and tonnes of food going to landfill every day and we don't really make a dent on that. But it's nice to think that people go away from a Food Not Bombs event thinking more about the food that they are wasting and more about the industry that creates most of that waste."
Food not Bombs stall in the Grassmarket, Edinburgh – March 2010. (Angus Vajk on far left of picture)
Jake's friend, student Angus Vajk, from Oban, says the public's reaction to being given free food is usually very positive, explaining: "People we give to on the street are usually really happy. A lot of the time they try to pay for it which is funny as we are not trying to raise money, just awareness."
For Zero Waste advisor Marina Fraser, the key to reducing waste is to reduce over-buying. Marina, based in Inverness, advises people in the Highlands and Islands how to reduce food waste with easy tips such as: make a list before shopping to avoid over-buying, use portion cups to reduce the amount of food on our plates and use compost bins to recycle. Marina also practises what she preaches and has a wormery and three compost bins at home. She explains: "People need to make time to see what's in the fridge and in the cupboards. We are all so busy that we rush to the shops, buy a lot and then fill up the cupboards with food that will go out of date. We have to check what's left and look for recipes."
‘Sgrios: Waste not, want not’ is produced by mactv for BBC ALBA and will be shown on Monday, May 31st at 9pm.
ENDS
Picture captions:
Student Gordon Maloney with a tray of food salvaged from skips;