Talk on waste gives food for thought
ENNISCORTHY library played host to a talk last week based around the issue of food waste and how to prevent it.
The presentation was made by Betty Kehoe who is the south east facilitator for StopFoodWaste.ie.
With a background in garden design, landscaping and garden maintenance Ms Kehoe regards herself as an environmentalist.
She is dedicated to using her skills to protect the natural environment and to enable others to take positive action for the environment as well.
During her talk she outlined a number of key measures people can take to reduce their household waste each week.
She also focused attention on ways that people can utilise home composting for their own benefit.
In Ireland there are over one million tonnes of waste food disposed of each year and of that around one third comes from households.
According to the Department of Communications, Climate Action & Environment, the average cost per household of such waste is between €400 and €1,000 per year.
As highlighted at the event in Enniscorthy there are three types of food waste that is thrown out.
Avoidable food waste, which accounts for around 60 per cent of the overall amount, includes plate scrapings; leftovers; gone off fruit and veg, and ‘passed their sell-by date’ perishable items.
Around 20 per cent of the overall waste is ‘potentially avoidable’ including items like bread crusts and potato skins.
Unavoidable food waste, which accounts for 20 per cent of all waste, includes general rubbish such as banana skins and chicken bones.
There is an increasing focus of attention on environmental and social issues in modern-day Ireland and that was something that pointed out by Ms Kelly in her presentation in Enniscorthy library.
She said that with growing realisation of the consequence of food waste and increased understanding of the associated costs individuals and groups are working at tackling the issue with everyone having a role to play.