Recycling gives family plenty of food for thought

A focus on recycling every day during National Recycling Week must surely give us all food for thought.

And food is where we leave the Clarke-Morris family this week, with a look at how they recycle their food waste.

Along with the green and black bins, a small grey bin was provided for their home, and in this area, the family confesses, they struggle most to recycle.

Mum Sue said: “We try to reduce the food waste we produce, but find the bin is not very easy or big to use. We are aware that the statistics for food wastage in this country are extremely high, so we try to shop carefully and be very aware of using all the food we purchase in order to waste as little as possible.”

According to WRAP (Waste Resources Action Programme) 6.7 million tones of food is thrown away by households in the UK every year.

Lawrence Recycling and Waste Management’s David Lawrence said. “Some of the waste is made up of things like peelings, cores and bones, but the majority is, or once was, perfectly good food. Reducing food waste is a major issue and not just about good food going to waste. Wasting food costs the average family £420 a year and has serious environmental implications too. If we all stop wasting food that could have been eaten, the CO2 impact would be the equivalent of taking one-in-five cars of the road!”

Looking back over the recycling diary this week, it’s clear that our Worcester recycling family, the Clarke-Morrises – Jeremy, Sue, Maisie and Jessica – are motivated and interested when it comes to their recycling habits.

By their own admission, there is more they can do day by day, but that could easily be achieved with more information, which they would gratefully receive.

As part of their recycling week diary, the Clarke-Morrises have visited Lawrence Recycling and Waste Management, based between Stourport and Kidderminster, to see for themselves what goes on at Europe’s largest covered recycling site. Within the site there are four different bays, equivalent in size to four indoor football pitches. One bay alone could house the Titanic, and into these bays comes waste brought in from businesses, homes and construction sites around Worcestershire and beyond.

Jeremy was impressed to see the scale of the work there: “The site is phenomenal and it’s exciting to think that we have such a world class recycling facility here in Worcestershire. Seeing what happens as the next stage of recycling has really opened our eyes and made us all the more determined to do ever more recycling.”