The story of food

When you throw away food you are not just wasting the food, but also the resources such as energy, fuel, time and water that went into growing, harvesting, storing, transporting and cooking the food. Then it produces methane if buried in landfill sites.

We plant seeds to grow food. Crops are fed water and use resources to grow

The crops are harvested and transported using energy and fuel

Livestock need water and energy to live. They feed on some of the harvested crops. Other crops are used to produce food such as bread or frozen peas

The foods and ingredients are prepared and packaged, using resources, energy and more water

food

Food is transported to shops and markets, including your local supermarket. It is also sent around the world in planes, ships, trains and lorries

Refrigerators, freezers and fluorescent lighting use more energy in supermarkets

We drive to the supermarket to buy our food and then drive home again

We store the food at home - this uses energy…

Some food we buy, which we don't eat or freeze in time, goes off. We then throw it away

When we cook and prepare food to eat we use gas, electricity and water…

Then we wash dishes with hot water and cleaning products

But what about… the foods we haven't eaten?

Use them later

You can store them in the fridge or freezer to eat at a later time. Being eaten is always the best option for food

Recycle them

You can recycle them in your food waste collection if your council provides one. Good option, but uses resources to transport and treat it

Throw them away

They can be thrown away straight into the rubbish bin, where they end up in landfill producing harmful methane. This is the worst place for food to end up

Find out how to make the most of your food…