Food recycling: 'Schemes have been successful elsewhere'

WITH tough recycling targets to meet, it is understandable that the council wants us all to step up our efforts to efficiently dispose of refuse.

A staggering one-fifth of our current household waste is unwanted food which is bought and just thrown out, untasted and sometimes still in the packaging it came in.

That isn't just a waste of money, it clogs up our refuse collection services and landfill sites too. So it does make sense to try to persuade more households to recycle it.

Such schemes have been successful in cities like Belfast and in London, and research shows that the vast majority of residents there support them.

The arguments for encouraging more households across the country to follow their example are compelling.

If all wasted food – an estimated 8.3million tons a year – was eaten rather than thrown out, the CO2 impact is said to be the equivalent of taking one in four cars off the road.

On a more basic level, throwing out unwanted food costs the average family with children almost 700 a year. So there is little doubt that reducing food waste is a major issue. And yet many residents in Edinburgh will be dismayed at the prospect of yet another waste bin – a fourth, or even fifth for many.

Some say they are already confused about where some of their rubbish goes, and what to do with garden waste and recyclable items like newspapers.

Frankly, a little bit of thought or a simple inquiry would be all that was needed to overcome most of those doubts.

But there is another, simpler answer for those who don't want yet another bin or refuse tub for their food waste.

Chucking away food was pretty much unknown in years gone by. Generations which remembered the shortages of the Depression and the 20th century wars – and especially rationing – would never just scrape leftovers out of a pot and into the bin.

Instead, they were recycled the old-fashioned way – by making other dishes, like pies or sandwiches for another meal.

It is a sign of our relative wealth today that those methods of using every scrap of food are being lost. It would do none of us any harm to rediscover them – or, if we can't, to buy less food in the first place.

And those who won't do either don't have much room for complaint if the cost is another recyling bin.