FOOD – ITS FUNDAMENTAL

We all eat it, it is fundamental to our survival, but did you know that food waste is also one of the major contributing factors to climate change?

Over the past few weeks I’ve been collecting food waste from a local cafe and bringing it home to feed my chickens.

FACT: Eggshells help add calcium to compost. Calcium is an important nutrient which helps plants build cell walls.

The Village Cafe was more than happy to put as many aside as I’d need. Which led me to the question: What do you usually do with them and the the rest of the food waste? What doesn’t go home for Chris’s compost, goes to  the bin = landfill.

Totally not into that idea at all, and considering that I have 20 chickens at home, we made a mutual agreement that I’d take the waste to avoid it going to landfill.

FACT: Food waste is a major issue in New Zealand. As a nation, we waste an estimated $872 million worth of food a year. That represents 122,500 tonnes of food sent to landfills – enough to feed everyone in Dunedin for two years. (source www.lovefoodhatewaste.co.nz

In the short term, taking the food scraps has saved us money as we don’t need to buy so much chicken food. In the long term this is helping to divert waste from the landfilll.

FACT: Food in a landfill, decomposes without oxygen, and releases methane gas into the atmosphere. Methane is a major contributor to climate change.

Have you got chickens or pigs? Have you considered a worm farm? Do you have a super compost heap? Would you like to help divert waste from the landfill? Either get in touch or make a connection with a local cafe to take their waste either one day a week, month or daily it all makes a difference.

If we could divert all food waste from the landfill, the science says we would reduce our carbon emissions by 5%.

Small changes, big impact, every bit counts