I have a bit of a “thing” for the amount of waste that some of us throw out each week.
Not really a gardening topic, but new research has shown that a third of Australians are throwing away vegetables every week.
We spend so much effort to save money on our veges, with higher costs the way they are, yet some of us don’t care about what we waste, yet this is costing us.
With the amount that shops and restaurants have to dispose of by law and what the consumer wastes, it amounts to billions of dollars of food wasted each year.
“Addressing food waste starts at the shops. It’s about what we buy and what we will use,” says Birds Eye ambassador Alice Zaslavsky.
She recommends that going in with a list and a rough idea of what you’ll be cooking that week. Will help save on food costs.
However, adding to what consumers are already involved with, we must also include the terrible waste on farms, due to the size, quality and quantity of produce that retail outlets say are required by their customers.
According to Foodbank Australia, 7.6 million tonnes of food are lost or wasted every year. We have a vast array and abundance of food in Australia, so much so that we’ve become quite wasteful.
They say that around 25% of water used in agriculture (about 2600 gigalitres) is used to grow food that is destined never to be eaten.
“There’s a perception that food switches off immediately when the use by date is reached, mostly, this isn’t the case at all,” says Ms Zaslavsky.
We all lead such busy lives in this technological age that at times we are so busy we sometimes don’t realise how much we’re wasting.
There are numerous agencies and companies addressing those who struggle to make ends meet.
Those in need are able to access free food or cheaper food if required from a number of Ipswich outlets.
Companies are constantly finding ways to improve, either the way food is grown or the way animals are kept to give them a greater crop or yield than before.
I remember over the past 20 years, hearing that many hundreds of dairies had gone to the wall, too hard to keep going etc. But somehow we always seem to be able to buy milk at the shops. Farmers are constantly finding new ways to do things and whether you agree or not with this concept, electric collars fitted around necks of animals and doing away with fences, is another idea being trialed. A slight voltage is applied so they don’t go beyond a certain space they’ve been allocated.
Drones are now used to round up animals in hard to reach places and used to monitor water levels and count cattle, while the GPS on harvesters in agriculture, allows farmers to work at night in cooler temperatures.
Yes! the world is changing rapidly, it’s hard to keep up with all the modern day inventions happening in our world. Maybe by just doing our part, we can help in this changing world of ours.
Till next time.
