Sustainable Strathclyde blogFood Waste Action Week

9 March 2023

How much does food waste contribute to climate change? And how much do we waste in the UK? The numbers are much higher than you would expect. This week for WRAP’s Food Waste Action Week, we are reflecting on some of the ways we are reducing food waste at the University of Strathclyde. We'll also share some top tips on how you can reduce waste at home.

Why food waste matters

Around one third of all the food produced goes to waste. Producing, transporting and letting that food rot releases 8-10% of global greenhouse gases. If you need help visualising it a little more, if food loss and waste were its own country it would be the third-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions. Climate experts agree that one of the most important things we can do to reduce our emissions and the impact of climate change is to waste less food. Whilst some food waste is inevitable, a large amount of it is certainly avoidable.

What the University is doing

The catering team at Strathclyde have several processes in place to reduce food waste as much as possible. They use stock management systems to control food production and ordering to ensure that food isn’t over-bought and that it can be best utilised. What isn’t sold on peak hours each day is then sold on the food-saving app Too Good To Go. Too Good To Go allows students, staff and the wider community to buy delicious excess food at a reduced price. For every ‘Magic Bag’ of food rescued through the Too Good To Go app, we’re helping to save 2.5kg of carbon. This helps us in working towards Strathclyde's goal of Net Zero by 2040 or sooner. Since October, we have sold 561 meals, and saved 1,402kg of carbon!

Any residual food waste is collected and processed at Keenan’s new facility in Linwood. It is converted into biofuel and used to create biogas. This can then be used for electricity, gas for the grid, heating or even biomethane for transport. The end product from treatment, digestate, is then used as a fertiliser for agricultural land to grow food.

Top tips for reducing food waste

Here are some other top tips on how to reduce food waste in your day-to-day life:

• Plan ahead and only buy what you need. Going to the store without a plan or with an empty stomach can lead to overbuying. Try to plan your meals and shopping list ahead of time.
• Know the difference between ‘sell by’, ‘use by’ and ‘best by’. They sound similar, but they determine whether your food is safe to eat or if it just tastes a little less fresh than when you first bought it.
• Use your fridge and freezer properly. Turning your fridge’s temperature down a little bit can keep food fresher for longer (at least below 5°C). You can also use your freezer to keep foods edible for much longer.
• Always use your leftovers. Before you shop, make sure you use what you already have. You can use websites like Big Oven, Supercook, and MyFridgeFood to discover recipes based on ingredients you already have.
• Check out more tips from Love Food Hate Waste.