Love Food, Hate Waste - and save £450 a year!

Lambeth Council and the Recycle Western Riverside partnership are supporting a new campaign, 'Love Food Hate Waste', which encourages residents to cut down on the amount of food they needlessly throw away.

Recent research reveals that a staggering one third of the food we buy in the UK is thrown away - most of which could have been eaten. This means for every three bags of shopping we buy, we effectively throw one bag straight in the bin.

The Love Food Hate Waste campaign aims to raise awareness about the astonishing levels of food waste around the UK, and to provide help and advice on simple steps we can take to combat the problem, which has a significant environmental impact.

Tips include storing food properly; learning about 'use by' and 'best before' dates; understanding portion sizes (to prevent cooking too much rice, pasta and so on); planning for meals and finding tasty ways to use up leftovers.

Look out for posters, leaflets, workshops, events, podcasts and roadshows coming soon. Residents can pick up some brilliant handy tips to cut down on food waste - save the planet and your hard earned cash! For more information about Love Food Hate Waste visit http://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/.

Please recycle your Christmas tree!

Local residents will be able to recycle their Christmas trees again this year, as Lambeth Council launches its free tree recycling service from 5 January 2009.

The service has been set up as part of the council’s to make recycling easier than ever.
Residents who have a real Christmas tree and live in a kerbside property can leave it next to their refuse bin in the week beginning 5th January, and the council will take it away and recycle it for free. The tree should be left at the front of the property before 6.00am on the day of collection, and all decorations should be removed.

People who live in a Lambeth Living property can simply leave their tree next to their estate recycling bank (also in the week beginning 5th January). Alternatively, anyone can bring them to be recycled at the following four sites between 5-16 January:

Clapham Common, Windmill Drive, SW4
Streatham Common, Streatham High Road, SW16
Kennington Park, Kennington Park Road, SE11
Lambeth Household Recycling Centre, Vale Street, SE27

It's estimated that each person in the UK will throw away an average of 50 kilos of waste over Christmas, about three million tonnes overall, although a lot of this waste, for example wrapping paper, Christmas cards, and plastic and glass bottles and cans from Christmas parties can all be recycled.

Cllr Sally Prentice, Cabinet member for Environment on Lambeth Council, said: "We all create a lot more waste during the Christmas period and Lambeth Council is making it easier than ever for people to recycle; our door-to-door Christmas tree recycling service is part of this drive. It’s also worth remembering that people can recycle clothes, toys, books and unwanted Christmas presents at local charity and second hand shops which are always looking for good quality items."