Waste Prevention

Every year in Ireland, we create a food waste mountain of at least 1 million tonnes. It is estimated that the average household throws out over one third of the food they buy unused, with the estimated cost of this wasted food between €700 and €1000 per household. 

Here are some practical tips for you to start tackling your food waste and save money in the process:   

• Check what you’ve got in your fridge and cupboards before you go food shopping, so that you don’t duplicate food items. 
• Plan your meals and bring your shopping list to avoid buying purchasing unnecessary foods and impulse shopping ingredients you won’t use. 
• Avoid buying too much bread, vegetables or milk which are the most common items which are thrown out after passing their best before date – or make better use of your freezer.  
• Keep leftovers to a minimum by only cooking what you need.   If you do have leftovers, try to get into the habit of using today’s leftovers for tomorrow’s lunch – a free and tasty lunch option! 
• Tidy your food regularly putting older food at the front so that you are reminded to use it up first or put it in the freezer.    
• Get creative and batch cook fridge leftovers into individual portions which you can freeze so you’ll always have something delicious to eat! Just because it doesn’t look good doesn’t mean your wilted vegetables can’t be turned into soup or stews, your browned bananas can’t be used in baking, and your bruised fruits can’t create smoothies!  
• If you have unopened packaged food that’s still good which you won’t use, donate it at trolleys for local charities, or to your local food bank or FoodCloud service.    

Please visit http://www.stopfoodwaste.ie/ for more advice on food waste prevention. 

The Stop Food Waste Campaign has 2 mains aims: to prevent food waste in the first place, and secondly, to promote home composting. It has been shown that people who compost tend to generate less food waste, as they become more aware of the food they are throwing out.     

Composting is an easy and cost-effective way to return the nutrients from organic material back to the soil.   The compost is created when the plant and animal matter break down into a rich, dark, soil-like material.   This material can be used as a soil conditioner, surface mulch, or fertiliser.    

What can be composted?  

• Greens from the garden – grass cuttings, weeds, cut flowers and plants.
• Greens from the house – plate scrapings, cooked and uncooked vegetables, fruit peels, coffee grounds, tea bags, grains, pasta and cereals.
• Brown from the garden – leaves, twigs, hedge pruning, shredded tree trimmings and bark, pine needles and cones.
• Brown from the house – paper towels and napkins, newspaper, clean or soiled cardboard – these items are best torn into small pieces.  

It is necessary to balance the mix of green materials with brown materials in your composter.   To avoid odours and pests such as rodents and flies, it is best to limit the amount of raw or cooked meat – a small amount of meat sauce or trimmings as part of plate scrapings won’t cause a problem.   Composting Ireland publish a complete guide to composting which you can access at this location -

If you are interested in trying home composting, home composters are available to purchase from the Environment Department. You can also contact us to get more information on composting, or arrange a composting workshop in your community.    

• Information on upcycling and reuse at home Circular living - My Waste 
• Information on managing waste and circular economy training for your business Manage waste in your workplace - My Waste 
• Information on preventing food waste www.stopfoodwaste.ie 
• Online repair directory committed to promoting small businesses who offer repair services in their local community – register at Register Your Business For Free | Advertise Repair Business in Ireland 
• Support and promote your local charity shops at Charity shops - Charity Retail Ireland