Turn over a new leaf with peels

The first steps to creating a world where nothing is wasted happens at home, writes Kitty Scully.

AS European Week for Waste Reduction (EWWR) draws to a close, a host of events around Europe and Ireland have been taking place to raise awareness on the amount of food that is wasted every day on a household, commercial, local and global level.

Food waste has significant environmental, economic and social consequences. Food losses represent the waste of resources used in production such as land, water, energy and inputs. Producing food that will not be consumed leads to unnecessary CO2 emissions, in addition to the lost economic value of the food produced. Wasting food raises important social questions in a country such as Ireland, where 15% of the population experience some degree of food poverty.