Waste less this Easter

Volunteers from Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin have issued a challenge to residents to try to waste less this Easter.  Around 90 million chocolate eggs are sold in the UK each year and although manufacturers have made really good progress to reduce the amount of packaging that accompanies eggs and increased its recyclability in the past few years, official government estimates suggest that Easter eggs alone create about 3,000 tonnes of 'eggstra' waste each year across the UK.

As such, here's some handy hints to help you reduce waste this Easter and save money in the process.

1. Make your own eggs

Instead of buying an Easter egg, why not make a chocolate egg instead? This can be done with just some melted chocolate and a mould, and will save you an average of £2.50 per egg! 

2. Choose eggs with minimal packaging

Most supermarkets sell eggs wrapped only in foil. There are also eggs with recyclable packaging, which include materials that can be more easily recycled by councils, this helps keep your Council tax bill lower! 

3. Think before buying ingredients for treats

Plan your Easter meals based on what you already have in your cupboard.  Buying twice as much as you need leads to unnecessary waste. Visit www.lovefoodhatewaste.com for more hints and tips to save you money. 

4. Reuse leftovers

Turning your leftovers into separate meals will save on waste and save you money on your food bill. The average family in Shropshire could save about £60 a month by reducing food waste!.

5. Don’t send an Easter card

Every year around a million cards are sent over Easter in the UK. Many of them end up in landfill after a few days. E-cards and social media offer environmentally friendly alternatives which save you money on postage costs too!

6. Be aware of disruption to your bin collection

With all the bank holidays, there will be changes to bin collection schedules. Check your local council’s website to be sure and it could save you a trip to the tip! 

Shropshire residents encouraged to recycle aluminium foil this Christmas

Mince pies, turkey, wine and trays of party food are all the ingredients of a great Christmas celebration.  Shropshire households are being urged to make it a ‘green’ Christmas by remembering to recycle all our festive aluminium packaging including foil trays, aerosols, screw caps and tin foil.

With the average Shropshire household expected to generate an extra 30% of rubbish over the festive period its really important to use your kerbside recycling scheme to recycle more. 

At Christmas you’ll see aluminium foil containers being used in a wide range of food packaging including mince pies, oven-ready food such as turkey, sausages, party food and pre-prepared vegetables. Aerosols are a major feature in our bathrooms and bedrooms, used in deodorants, body sprays and haircare products. Once empty, all can be recycled under the scheme.

Shropshire-based Rick Hindley who is Executive director of the Aluminium Packaging Recycling Organisation (Alupro) Rick Hindley says: “Aluminium food and drink cans are already a familiar sight in most household recycling schemes, but it’s great to see that Shropshire also collects aerosols, foil trays, tin foil, metal lids from jars and aluminium screw caps from bottles too especially as we use more of them around Christmas. More than 580 million aerosols are used in the UK each year, plus 16,000 tonnes of foil trays – so recycling them has huge potential to save energy and cut the amount of waste going to landfill.”

Mumsnet survey finds people lack cooking skills

Are we in danger of losing basic cooking skills?

A recent survey we carried out with Mumsnet revealed just that almost a quarter of parents surveyed were not confident they could use leftovers to make another meal without resorting to a recipe. To curb a potentially lost generation of cooks we have launched ‘Save More’ to help people get to grips with budgeting, planning, and portioning in the kitchen along with money saving tools and tips.

Not only can confidence in the kitchen have a positive impact on our health and our families health but having these skills can also save us money and help to reduce household food waste.
 

How you can help?

1.    Download our Save More pack today and get sharing
2.    See the NEW report detailing how it was developed and tested. You can also check out our guide to setting up a new group.
3.    Share our NEW Mumsnet-Love Food Hate Waste infographic on cooking skills
4.    Check out our NEW Top tips for mums and dads from Love Food Hate Waste
5.    Pass on our hints and tips  to help rescue food.
6.    Share our recipes – many include videos to get you started

Local school gets composting

Kids from St Mary’s Bluecoat Primary School in Bridgnorth have been getting into gardening and composting following a talk about recycling from local Councillor John Hurst-Knight. 




















Pictured above are pupils Jack Coley, Jack Farmer, James Lannigan, Kai Embrey, Abigail Swinnerton, Phoebe Hadley, Ellie Cartman.

Recycled compost bins from the www.shropshire.getcomposting.com range were provided from ex-display stock by the Council.  The school were also supplied with seeds, gardening kit and six bags of Pro-grow compost (which is a peat-free growing medium made from local authority garden waste) sponsored by Veolia. 

The children are really keen gardeners and they meet every Tuesday after school and the kids said that they will use the new equipment to improve their skills and to grow plants which they sell on at their local Co-op store to raise funds for the school.  So now all in all the school is well and truly sorted out for gardening now and as a spin off a new social enterprise selling their produce has been born. 

The school head was really pleased with it too as she noted that not only would their be income from the plant sales but they by composting their food waste on site they will save money on their waste collection bills and also it will help towards their eco-schools status.  

Top tips from Love Food Hate Waste

Top tip   

This month our friends from Love Food Hate Waste – have provided some top tips for reducing the amount of veg which gets wasted:

1. Put old carrots or soft celery into a glass of water in the fridge to revive them.

 2. Add squashy tomatoes to a chilli or pasta sauce.

3.Use up cheap seasonal vegetables to 'bulk out' meals.

4. Vegetables that are past their best will make a great soup.

5. Frozen vegetables from the supermarket are just as healthy as fresh but hugely prevent wastage. 

For more great tips go our hints and tips pages or check out our A-Z of food saving tips

Grants available for community growing

Grants Available For Grow Wild Spaces

Grow Wild which is four-year campaign to bring people together to sow UK native plants.

They have just announced that local voluntary, community, parish and town councils, youth groups, health authorities and secondary schools; etc. can apply for grants of between £1,000 and £4,000 to create a "Grow Wild Community Site. Grow Wild projects can include an unloved area that organisations want to reclaim for their local community or perhaps somewhere that's a bit neglected or run-down and applicants want to turn it into an inspiring space for everyone. The funding cannot cover staff costs but can cover costs specifically for the Grow Wild project. Grow Wild expect most of Grow Wild's money to be used in creating the site, such as for materials, plants and seeds, and any volunteer costs. Grow Wild expect to fund 60 groups in 2015.

The closing date for applications is the 2nd December 2014.

For more information CLICK HERE 

Making a compost toilet!

Making a Compost Toilet – Cwm Harry

Learn about the theory, principles and different techniques of compost toilets, the value of nutrient recycling and zero- waste systems. The workshop will include making a simple compost toilet for the community garden, giving you the skills to make one at home!!!

Start:	12 July 2014 9:30 am
End:	12 July 2014 4:30 pm
Venue:	Cwm Harry
Phone:	01686 626234
Address:	Cultivate Newtown Community Garden, Llanidloes Road, Newtown, Powys, SY16 4HX, Newtown, SY16 4HX, United Kingdom
Cost:	£30, bring and share lunch For more information visit www.cwmharry.org.uk

Do I really waste food?

More than two million of us have made changes to the way we shop, prepare, store and use food. This is brilliant – but there is still a lot more we all have to do. Love Food Hate Waste can help everyone take simple steps to stop wasting food and save money as a result. 

 Do I really waste food?

57% of us claim not to waste food (or very little) but in fact as a nation we are throwing away millions of tonnes of food and drink from our homes every year, and most of this could have been eaten. And while one in four of us think that the food we throw away doesn’t cost much, the fact is that food waste is hitting us in the pocket – it currently costs the typical household £480 a year.

If you really think you don’t waste food, why not set yourself a small challenge? There are some very simple steps you can take to ensure that you’re making the most of the food you buy.

The challenge!

First thing would be to look at what you are wasting. Try keeping a food waste diary for a few days, or put all the food and drink that you’d normally throw into the bin into a bucket or other container, to see how much there is. Then follow the simple steps below and measure again to see how much your waste has gone down!

Planning meals before heading out to do the shop and writing (and sticking to!) a shopping list really can save you pounds on your food bill. It only takes a few minutes to do, and there’s even a template meal planner on www.lovefoodhatewaste.com to get you started. Or, if you have a smartphone, you can do it using our new app! And if you need inspiration for what to eat, we’ve got hundreds of mouthwatering recipes online.

Once you’ve planned your meals, writing a list is easy – here are our top tips to make it become second-nature:

1. Keep a pad and pen in the kitchen - when you’ve got through the last of your favourites such as milk or cheese scribble it down on the list.
2. Shopping for specific ingredients with meals in mind and taking a list helps ensure we use what we buy.
3. Buying foods that can be used for several different dishes gives us flexibility to create different meals.
4. Look for food with the longest use-by date or fresh foods which can be frozen in case you don’t get round to eating them in time.
5. Have a quick rummage through the fridge, freezer and store cupboard once a week; it’ll end those evening runs to the local late night shop for essentials.

 

Skilling up in the kitchen

If you’re not feeling all that confident about your culinary capabilities, Love Food Hate Waste has a range of videos to show you how to cook some delicious, cheap meals from scratch! From an omelette to a quick pizza, a stir fry to a shepherd’s pie and pancakes to fruit crumble, there’s something for everyone. Don’t forget you can ask us questions via our website or Twitter if you get stuck.

Watch our neat video about meal planning to get more top tips: http://england.lovefoodhatewaste.com/content/meal-planning-tips

Perfect portions

Do you often find that you cook way too much rice, pasta or potatoes? Getting your portions right before you cook is one of the quickest and easiest ways to cut your food waste. Our Perfect Portion Tool removes the guesswork and makes sure you get the perfect portion, every time. It’s available on the app, too!

If you do end up cooking too much, don’t panic! There are countless fabulous recipes for using up these ingredients. And did you know you can freeze rice?

Share your successes!

There is nothing more satisfying than experimenting with ingredients to create new recipes that you and your family enjoy – and at the same time saving money! If you discover a tasty new way to use up a particular piece of food – tell us on our Twitter and Facebook pages! We’ll happily feature it on the website. Also, share your new kitchen confidence with your friends and family – everyone loves learning new tips, trying new recipes and finding interesting new ways to use up foods that they may otherwise have been thrown away.

Try this for a couple of weeks and see how much you can save on your food bills. A typical family would save £13 a week – how do YOU compare?

Recycle your aerosols

Each year on average, the UK uses around 600 million aerosols – that works out at 27 households a year. The main body of an aerosol is usually made from tin-plated steel or aluminium, both of which are 100 per cent recyclable.

You can recycle any aerosol cans in Shropshire really easily.  Either pop them in your box at home with your cans and plastic or drop them off at your nearest recycling site with the cans, tins and aluminium foil.

Please remember:

• Make sure it is empty


• Do not attempt to pierce or squash the can


• Place in with your kerbside recycling box (or take it to a recycling centre)

Church Stretton children learning about recycling

Children from St Laurence’s Parent and Toddlers group in Church Stretton have been helping to remind residents to recycle their aluminium foil as part of their annual Easter egg hunt this week.

Its all part of the new Metal Matters campaign which encourages us all to make our 'metal matter' by recycling more of the aluminium foil, cans, tins and aerosols we use. With a whopping 400,000 Easter Eggs set to be eaten across Shropshire in the coming weeks we think now is a good time to remind everyone that the metal foil around your chocolate can easily be recycled at home, just put it in your recycling box with your cans.

Spring Fair (and plant sale) 26th April 2014

Look out for our volunteers from Shropshire Master Composters this coming Saturday 26th April 2014 10 am to 4 pm at the Shropshire Wildlife Trust visitor centre on Abbey Foregate in Shrewsbury. 

Join us for a blooming wild event. There will be a range of inspirational talks on creating space for wildlife in your garden, on your land or simply in a window box. Alongside our expert home composting display and demonstration there will be workshops to guide you in making your own birdboxes, bug hotels, feeders and sculptures.  Plus a huge plant sale, with locally produced and organic plants to compliment the delicious refreshments, craft demonstrations and free children's activities.

So come on down and find out more about home composting and how to generally green your garden and help tread more lightly on the planet. 

Its FREE entry all day!

Metal Matters to Shropshire

Shropshire Council and their contractor Veolia are working in partnership with recycling industry body Alupro to encourage residents across Shropshire to recycle more metal as part of their ‘Metal Matters’ campaign.  Volunteers from Shropshire Master Composters will be helping man roadshow events across the county in the coming months to help remind residents to recycle more cans, tins, aerosols, aluminium trays and foil.  

 

Leaflets produced with sponsorship from Alupro will soon be dropping through letterboxes reminding people to recycle more metal food and drinks packaging using their kerbside recycling service.

Rick Hindley, Chief Executive of Alupro added “The aim of MetalMatters is to help increase metal recycling by positively changing residents behaviour.” 

“Our partnership with Shropshire Council and Veolia delivers on all counts. It reinforces our experience with previous MetalMatters campaigns that investment in householder communications can make a real difference to recycling capture rates, and go on to deliver cost-effective results for local authorities and their waste management partners.  For more information on the campaign visit www.metalmatters.org.uk “

Metal recycling facts:

• Recycling a tonne of steel saves 1.5 tonnes of iron ore & reduces CO2 emissions by 80%.

• Recycling a tonne of aluminium saves 9 tonnes of C02 emissions and four tonnes of bauxite – the raw material from which aluminium is made.

• Metal can be recycled again and again indefinitely.

• Recycling seven cans saves enough energy to power a 60-watt light bulb for 26 hours.

• In as little as six weeks, the empty can you put in your recycling could be transformed and back on the supermarket shelf.

Ludlow Food Social Enterprise Expanding

  

 

Started in 2010, Grow Cook Share has had a massive impact on Ludlow and Craven Arms with more people than ever growing and cooking their own food from scratch. Now thanks to a massive £4500 donation from the Ludlow Food Festival the future of this 4-year project looks bright.

Beth Health, Operations Director for the Ludlow Food Festival said: “Grow Cook Share has made a real impact on the community and their stand at the festivals is always really popular.  As organisers of the festival we believe passionately in local food and you can’t really get more local than a project like this so its important to support it in a way that will help it continue.”

The donation will be used to upgrade the ovens in a number of locations used for the Grow Cook Share catering project, including the Rockspring Centre, Ludlow and the Craven Arms Community Centre amongst others.

Valerie Meehan from Grow Cook Share said: “Grow Cook Share was initially a four year Lottery and LEADER funded project which has been incredibly successful.  As a result, we will be launching a food based sustainable social enterprise later this year. This will offer local people opportunities to access training, personal development, work experience and employment within the food sector, with a particular focus on young people who are currently unemployed or underemployed.  The donation from the Food Festival means we can invest in new equipment which will really help us in this venture.”

Grow Cook Share supports people in Ludlow and Craven Arms to grow and cook their own food from scratch and to share their skills knowledge and excess garden produce with their local community.

The group offers free cookery courses and gardening activities through their network of paid staff and volunteers in order to support the local community to get growing and cooking from scratch in their homes, schools and community spaces. 

For further information about Grow Cook Share please visit http://www.ludlow21.org.uk/grow-cook-share/ 

Volunteers wanted to help reduce waste in Shropshire

Volunteers wanted to help reduce waste

Local volunteer group Shropshire Master Composters on are on the look out for volunteers from Shropshire & Telford & Wrekin who want to help work to reduce waste in their area.  Volunteers work closely with the local authorities in their local communities to promote home composting, waste prevention and recycling - http://www.shropshirecomposters.co.uk/

Volunteers are offered high quality training and support and in return they give their time without payment to do a variety of community events, talks, demonstrations, school visits, public outreach programmes and publicity work all aimed at helping us getting people to raise awareness and ultimately to waste less.

As a volunteer you will receive free training in home composting and related environmental issues provided by Garden Organic (formerly HDRA). The initial foundation training course will be held on Saturday 29^th March 2014 at the Shropshire Wildlife Trust in Shrewsbury.   

The course has been arranged by Shropshire Council, Telford & Wrekin Council and local waste management firm Veolia Environmental Services.  The training is delivered by composting experts from the national horticultural charity Garden Organic. 

Since its inception in 2006, we have trained over 100 volunteers who have gone on to give more than 10,000 hours of their time promoting home composting to tens of thousands of people around the county.

Who can become a Master Composter?

·         Anyone over the age of 18 can become a Master Composter; you don’t need to be an expert composter already or have any volunteer or community group experience.

·         All trainees get a Master Composter resource pack and will be offered a follow up visit to a local composting site and further visits to Garden Organic Gardens in Coventry as well as local study tours and workshops to develop their expertise following the course.

·         Once the training has been completed, you will be expected to spend at least 30 hours (around 4 days work) over the following year promoting home composting as a volunteer (i.e. not as part of a paid position).

·         As a Master Composter you will receive free training, free resources and travel expenses to help you do your work sponsored by Veolia.

·         Becoming a Master Composter is a great way to meet new people, learn valuable skills, and benefit from being part of a team that makes a difference.

If you are interested in becoming a Master Composter please email james.thompson@shropshire.gov.uk or call us on 01743 255989.

Scrappies crafts & recycling

Scrappies (Crafts and Recycling) By Alan Stewart (Master Composter)
 

I’ve found that a great and inexpensive way to entertain my 4 year old daughter Isla is to take her to Scrappies (crafts & recycling) in Church Stretton. We like to make it a whole day out by catching the train to Church Stretton (itself an exciting activity for a 4 year old!) and also letting off some steam with a play in the park before heading home.   The play park in Church Stretton is a particularly good one.

Scrappies is a charity; their team of volunteers collects surplus products from factories, shops and businesses.  These are then sorted, bagged and stocked in the scrapstore located in Church Stretton town centre.  It is a fantastic place to pick up extremely cheap materials for any child’s craft activity: fabric off-cuts, buttons, scraps of paper and card, plastic bottles, pots, lids, books, ribbons, foam and foil.  They also sell new craft resources including paints, glue, crayons, pens, clay, tissue paper, feathers etc…

Isla loves rummaging around for things and imagining what she can make with them.  She has particularly enjoyed, for instance, having her own ‘diary’ to scribble in (actually a 2012 diary - but she is none the wiser!!), which we picked up for a few pence.  To make your craft activities even easier, and in case you are needing inspiration, they also have a selection of make-your-own kits such as peg dolls and puppets which have been put together by Scrappies volunteers from the materials available in the store.

I am told that a new ‘Crafty Kids’ craft club is starting on Saturday mornings 10—12am from January as a drop in session, which we will definitely be heading to!  Scrappies craft workers can also be booked for activity tents, events and birthday parties to run creative activities for children and families.

Scrappies are not open every day of the week so do check their website first: www.scrappies.org or contact via: info@scrappies.org or by phone (during opening hours) on 01694 722 511.

Make soup to use up old food and avoid waste

With the long winter nights now that the clocks have gone back and with the weather turning colder we all need to make the most of lovely leftovers and forgotten foods and turn them into winter warmers.

A couple of items many of our Master Composters grow on their allotments and small holding which go great together is spinach and potato.  

Spinach is an excellent antioxidant and is low fat too. Use fresh or wilted – or leftovers – it will make a really tasty soup.  Potatoes are a great everyday store cupboard essential which keep really well if stored in a cool dark place.  It doesn’t matter if your potatoes look a bit tired or start sprouting simply give them a good peel to bring them back to their best.

Here's a simple soup recipe for you all to try

Ingredients:

·          

1   1 x finely chopped onion

·         3 x potatoes, diced

·         2 x pints vegetable stock

·         5 x handfuls of fresh spinach leaves

·         Salt & pepper

Method:

1.    Place the potatoes, onion in a large saucepan and fry lightly for 10 minutes.

2.    Add the stock and simmer for 10 minutes until potatoes are soft and cooked.

3.    Season with ground black pepper and add the spinach. Cook for a further 5 minutes.

If you wish you can then blend the soup to suit.

Winter warmers can be the perfect way to turn cheap, healthy veg and staples into tasty warming dinners for the family. Whatever the size of your household most of these dishes can be frozen in individual portions, giving you homemade, cheap ready meals for those nights when the last thing you want to do is cook.  For more recipes like this visit www.lovefoodhatewaste.com

Homemade food – home and away – is a winner for a tasty, cheap summer

A surge in demand for self-catering holidays coupled with Met Office predictions of more settled warm weather over July could give us all a chance to save money this summer by getting clever with our food.  Tips from Love Food Hate Waste show us how.

While a recent survey shows demand for self-catering holidays in England is up by a third, with 42 per cent of those questioned citing ‘money saving’ as the reason, better summer weather coming our way will also provide lots of opportunities for those at home to dust off the picnic hamper and fire up the barbecue. 

Times are tough and we’re all feeling the pinch at the moment.  But the good news is summer food tips from www.lovefoodhatewaste.com will help all of us going on a self-catering break – or simply enjoying the long light days at home – to turn leftover food we already have into some truly fabulous seasonal dishes and save money at the same time.

With a little planning before you leave, together with a cool box and supply of freezer packs, its easy to take key ingredients with you and be well equipped for picnics and days out while you’re away.

Tips include:

• If you have cooked too much for a meal such as fish pie, chilli or lasagne, simply pop it in an airtight container and store in the freezer as a homemade ‘ready meal’ or take with you for an easy first night supper.
• If you take some lettuce or salad leaves with you and they’re looking tired and wilted after the journey, put them in a bowl of water with a couple of ice-cubes and they will become nice and crisp again.
• Quiches are an ideal way to help use up eggs and spare cream before you go. Add flaked, cooked fish or fry that last rasher of bacon and some onion for classic quiche Lorraine; a perfect, simple dish to take with you, in your cool box, for the first meal of your holiday - lunch or supper.
• Filling sandwiches filled with tasty and unexpected combinations of leftovers, such as chicken, bacon and mayonnaise, lamb and mint sauce or cheese and coleslaw.
• Making leftover potatoes into a tasty potato salad with sliced red or spring onions and mayonnaise – a tasty salad that also travels well.

For more invaluable tips for a cost-effective enjoyable summer home or away, visit www.lovefoodhatewaste.com for recipes and inspiration!

Shrewsbury Town Square Composting Promotion

Some of us volunteers from Shropshire Master Composters teamed up with the Council and Veolia in the Town Square last week for an event to mark Compost Awareness Week.  The aim was to try to engage local people about how they can compost their organic waste at home and encourage them to make use of the special offers provided via www.shropshire.getcomposting.com

We spoke to well over 100 people about composting their waste at home to help them save money and the environment.  Other local charities including the Field Studies Council and the Wildlife Trust also joined us for the event.  Lets hope it helps spread the word about the wonders of making your own compost!

Compost Awareness Week 2013

What is Compost Awareness Week?


The thirteenth annual International Compost Awareness Week (CAW) will be celebrated from Sunday 5th to Saturday 11th May 2013!  CAW aims to encourage more people to realise the benefits of home composting and the great results that can be achieved by using peat-free composts containing recycled material.

Throughout the week volunteers from Shropshire Master Composters will be out around Shropshire encouraging people to give new composting activities a go.

New to composting? Why not give composting a go. Anyone with even the tiniest bit of outside space can compost at home.

Already a compost champion? Think about additional things you could compost, such as eggs shells, shredded paper, cereal boxes, tea bags or even the contents from your vacuum cleaner.  Its not just garden waste which composts well.

Don’t know what to do with your compost? Try using your homemade compost to enrich your borders or to give your potted plants and containers an extra boost.

Ever tried peat-free compost? It’s made from recycled materials - and that’s good news for the environment because it contains natural goodness and it helps to cut down the amount of organic waste that is sent to landfill.  It also gets blooming good results for your garden!

For more information visit the www.homecomposting.org.uk website. 

To buy discount home compost bins visit www.shropshire.getcomposting.com

Love Food Hate Waste launches free phone app

The Love Food Hate Waste (LFHW) campaign has today (April 24) launched a phone app to assist with food budget planning, shopping and making the most of left-overs and recipes while on the go.

Love Food Hate Waste has launched a phone appThe free app is available for both iPhone and Android devices, and includes features such as a portion planner and meal planning diary; hundreds of recipes; and a ‘My kitchen’ section, which enables users to store details of all the foods stored at home.

The app also offers a ‘My profile’ area where users can record what they have cooked, culinary ‘achievements’, and, the chance to opt for connecting via Facebook or Twitter with friends and family who also use the app.

LFHW’s Emma Marsh said: “Wasting less food is not only good for our pockets, but it’s also good for the environment, helping to save energy and water, and reducing our carbon footprint. By making all this information available via the new free app, we want to make it even easier for people to get the most from the food they buy.”

The LFHW campaign is funded by the non-profit Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP)