Residents Asked to Help Reduce Post-Christmas Food Waste

Newry, Mourne and Down District Council is reminding residents to ensure any festive food waste ends up in the brown recycling bin rather than going to landfill.

Fridges are often bursting at the seams with leftovers after Christmas and there are so many ways to make the most of the leftover food. Most of it can be eaten or even frozen but for food that can’t, brown bins accept all kinds of food waste, which helps recycle in the days after Christmas.  

According to ‘Love Food Hate Waste’, we will throw away more than 4 million tons of perfectly edible food, this includes 263,000 turkeys, 7.5 million mince pies and more than 170 tonnnes of sprouts. Their website, www.lovefoodhatewaste.com has a range of top tips on how to make the most of leftovers and provides some excellent leftovers recipes.

Newry, Mourne and Down District Council Chairperson, Councillor Charlie Casey said, “Food waste is almost inevitable at this time of year, but there are things that can be done to minimise how much of it goes to waste. Anything that can’t be frozen or eaten in the days after Christmas should go into your brown food recycling bin, ensuring no food is sent to landfill.”

“The Council is committed to recycling and has invested a lot in ensuring our recycling rates are as high as possible across the district and we really appreciate the efforts of our residents to help reduce waste by using their brown bin over the festive period.”

Last year residents in our district recycled more than 16,300 tonnes of food waste. This was taken to a local composting facility where it was used to create a nutrient rich fertiliser, which helps grow food, like potatoes, locally. Recycling your food waste is both easy and worthwhile.

There will always be some unavoidable food waste like vegetable peelings and plate scrapings. By law, it must be placed in the brown bin, this includes all cooked and uncooked food plus bones and carcasses. Remember you can pick up a roll of compostable bin liners at your local Household Recycling Centre so that you can do your bit for the environment this Christmas.

For more information about what you can put in your brown bin or where else you can collect the liners, please go to our website at www.newrymournedown.org/brown-bin or telephone 0300 013 2233.