As you contemplate tackling the lockdown food lines and ’emergency stocking up’ at your local grocery store, contemplate these facts:
New Zealand’s food industry generates more than 103,000 tonnes of food waste per year, and it is estimated that 60% of food going to landfill is edible.
Meantime, one in five New Zealanders are living with low to moderate food insecurity each and every day, including up to 305,000 Kiwi children.
Read more on food waste in this article by BayBuzz columnist Dom Salmon. He notes that here in Hawke’s Bay alone, about 50% of our household waste is organic matter winding up in the landfill. And that simply by making sure we actually eat the food we buy, New Zealand households could save $500 each year.Â
So, for sure, shop for food when you must. But don’t overdue it.
UGH! Can we add toilet paper to this, BayBuzz?
HAving seen some of the trolley’s coming from the supermarket when lockdown was notified (I drove around for a laugh to see the panic) I just can’t understand what people were thinking. How many extra meals were they going to have each day? How many times extra were they going to go to the toilet for heavens sake?! The mentality of some people makes me wonder whether we actually have an education system – and whether we need a huge increase in mental disorder spending. Ye Gods!!