Food Waste Action Week will run from Monday 1 to Sunday 7 March, with activities taking place across the whole of the UK. The week will link organisations across the UK, including the GMCA, to stop food going to waste and halt its contribution towards climate change. Partners are united around a simple message: “Wasting Food Feeds Climate Change”.

The GMCA will be supporting Food Waste Action Week across social media, digital advertising and on the Recycle for Greater Manchester website. The GMCA will also be working with the nine local authorities across the city-region that form the waste disposal authority to raise awareness of the campaign with residents. R4GM is committed to helping residents waste less at home and recycle right, and during Food Waste Action Week will be sharing tips and information from Love Food Hate Waste to help inspire residents to take small actions to reduce the food they throw away. This is part of an ongoing commitment from R4GM to raise awareness around the link between food waste and climate change and encourage residents to reduce their food waste as much as possible.

Food Waste Action Week asks the public to take part in a simple challenge to try to reduce the food they waste at home to as close to zero as possible. A national public campaign will be headed by Nadiya Hussain. Nadiya will help bring alive the message that wasting food feeds climate change by focussing on a different theme each day, from food storage and portion planning to creative ways to use up food, and sharing practical tips such as setting the fridge temperature correctly.

• 70% of all food wasted in the UK is from our own homes. Each year, UK households throw away 4.5 million tonnes of food that could have been eaten.
• If food waste were a country, it would be third only to the USA and China in terms of its Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions.

People will be able to take part in Food Waste Action Week activities happening across Love Food Hate Waste’s Twitter, and Facebook platforms and the Love Food Hate Waste website, all communicating the message that wasting food feeds climate change and stressing that we all have a part to play in breaking the cycle. There will be widescale action from an array of well-known influencers helping people stop food that could have been eaten ending up in the bin, with daily support and tips from WRAP’s food experts.

Cllr Andrew Western, GMCA Lead for the Green City-Region, said: “Greater Manchester Combined Authority, working with our 10 local councils, is proud to support Food Waste Action Week.

“We announced a climate emergency in 2019, acknowledging that we have to take action now and together and make tackling the impact of climate change our top priority. Wasted food has a huge impact on climate change, from the release of greenhouse gases to the waste of land, water and energy. With over 2.5 million residents living across Greater Manchester, if every one of us took simple steps to reduce the amount of food we throw away we could make a real difference.

“Most food wasted in the UK comes from our homes. This campaign can help us all to stop wasting food through making small changes to the way we shop, and how we store and prepare food.”

Marcus Gover, CEO of WRAP, said “Wasting food is a major cause of climate change – it generates more greenhouse gas emissions than all the commercial flights in the world. We know through our research that the climate change emergency matters to people so this is something we can – and must – act on together. It is time to focus on saving one of our most precious resources instead of generating greenhouse gases producing food that is never eaten.

“I’m delighted to be launching the first UK Food Waste Action Week today and to have such strong support from our partners. Together we will inspire real and lasting change. Food Waste Action Week gives organisations a unique opportunity to capture their audiences’ attention as part of a national event and help them to play their part in eliminating food being wasted and tackling climate change.”