According to research carried out by the Environmental Protection Agency in Ireland, the average household wastes 150kg of food a year or 52 kg per person. This food waste is estimated to cost each household a whopping €700 a year.
After bread, vegetables, fruit, and salad are the foods that are thrown out most often in the home. We believe more education is needed on the benefits of frozen food and how using frozen vegetables can help limit food waste.
But it’s not just in our homes...
From the last ‘Summary of Food Waste in Ireland 2018’ household food waste accounted for 25% of total food waste with manufacturing at 47%, retail 10% and restaurants/food service 19%. We believe everyone has a responsibility to reduce food waste including Green Isle and choosing frozen is one of the many great ways for households to reduce food waste.
What have Green Isle done to help tackle waste?
Green Isle have been working to reduce food waste and use all parts of the vegetable. For example, stalks and carrot tops are ploughed back into the fields by their growers for nutrients and vegetable skins go to a biodigester to create energy. Last year Green Isle partnered with FoodCloud to ensure no good food goes to waste in their supply chain.
Green Isle have also been preparing for soft plastic recycling by changing all of their plastic packaging to recyclable plastic. When Green Isle started this in 2020 38% of their packaging was recyclable where facilities were available, they have now increased this to 95%, removing 62 tonnes of non-recyclable packaging and are always working to continually improve this.
Simple Steps to Reduce Food Waste
Sometimes tackling food waste can seem a little daunting as we don’t know where to begin, that’s why Green Isle have created some simple steps to help you reduce your household food waste:
Step 1. Think before you shop - Make a list and shop with meals in mind
Step 2. Use or lose your food - Include more frozen so you use only what you need
Step 3. Love your freezer - Use it to meal plan and batch cook
Step 4. Love your leftovers - Freeze what you don't use and enjoy at a later date
Is frozen food healthy?
All Green Isle’s fruit and vegetables are picked at their peak and frozen at their locking in nutrients and flavour. Studies have shown that frozen contain just as much nutrients as fresh. When there was a slight difference, it was more likely that the frozen vegetables had a higher concentration of nutrients than their fresh counterparts. Green Isle also use no artificial colours, flavours, or preservatives as well as no GMOs.
Tackling food waste together...
Green Isle recognise there are always areas for improvement and are continually looking at ways of reducing their carbon footprint. Food waste is not an issue that any one individual is responsible for but it something we can all tackle together.
Leave a comment