Could Milan’s waste strategy be assessed for inclusion in ours?

In particular, the Earthshot prize website informs us that a third of all food that is produced around the world is wasted. An issue addressed by the ‘Build a waste-free world’ category. The prize went to the City of Milan who have tackled this problem by recovering food from company canteens and supermarkets at the end of the day and delivering it to a system of hubs. The food is then redistributed to the neediest citizens via NGOs. The representatives of the people of Milan, spoke of wishing to roll out their idea across other cities across the globe.

The Committee for the Environment and Infrastructure already do a tremendous job under our current waste strategy, but would they consider accessing the Milan model with a view to assessing it for inclusion in our next Waste Management Plan? I feel certain that ‘Team Guernsey’ would provide an army of volunteers for such a project as this.

JAN ROBERTS

The Old Farm,

Les Varendes

St Andrew’s

GY6 8TE

Editor’s footnote: Tina Norman-Ross, Waste Prevention and Recycling Officer, responds:

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to respond to your letter.

We agree that the City of Milan is doing a great job in helping to tackle the global problem of food waste by redistributing this food with the help of NGOs.

Guernsey has already come a very long way in tackling its waste which is something that we are very proud of, however, there is always more that can be done.

Each month in Guernsey we collect around 300 tonnes of food waste from households (roughly the weight of two African elephants a night) and probably half of that food could have been consumed. Research shows that the average Guernsey family spends more than £600 a month on food and drink shopping, and we are well aware that too much of that ends up being thrown away. By cutting down on food waste they could save more than £800 a year.

Guernsey has similar initiatives to those being run in Milan, although run on a slightly smaller scale. Through a free independent sharing app called OLIO, neighbours can connect with each other and with local businesses so surplus food can be shared, not thrown away. Morrisons has recently introduced an app, Gander, which displays reduced to clear food in real-time as they are stickered in-store ensuring reduced price food is ‘matched with islanders who want to buy it.

We know that climate change is a concern for many and that was highlighted when we teamed up with the Youth Forum on the ‘Food is not rubbish’ campaign. That included the Big Feed event at Les Beaucamps High a few years ago, when we managed to feed the entire school on a budget that was less than the average household will spend on food that would normally end up being thrown away in one year. This campaign raised awareness of the thousands of tonnes of food that we waste every year locally. Members of the Youth Forum were particularly concerned around the waste in resources used to produce and grow that food around the world, only for it to be thrown away and the effect this was having on climate change globally.

Although merely the tip of the iceberg when it comes to tackling food waste, Guernsey Waste has several ongoing campaigns to help raise awareness. These have included our annual Love Food Hate Waste calendar, advertising on the rear of Guernsey buses and seasonal radio adverts. We have also promoted the Love Food Hate Waste messages at events such as Sea Front Sundays, the horticultural shows and across our social media platforms.

Similarly, our ‘Foods Not Rubbish’ campaigns are promoted in larger supermarkets, on Guernsey Dairy’s milk cartons and again across our social media platforms.

This work will continue in order to be a frequent reminder to Islanders of the amount of waste they produce to encourage everyone to take individual responsibility for their waste.

However, further work to tackle food waste on the Island is kept under review and ideas such as these will form part of those considerations on what more can be done.