#Worth Saving Avoidable Food Waste Campaign

Waste Composition Analysis data in 2020 showed that almost a quarter of the material (23%) in residual bins across Hertfordshire and 45-65% of the food wastes collected for composting could have been eaten if we had managed it differently.

This edible food equates to 66 million meals annually including around 40,000 tonnes thrown away in residual waste bins across Hertfordshire alone at an unnecessary cost to the taxpayer of over £5.2 million.

This has a huge impact on the environment. Resources relating to the land, fertiliser, transport, water, and more needed to grow the food is wasted along with the edible food itself. In fact, reducing the amount of food we throw away, could reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by up to 10% (source: UN Environmental Programme).

The financial impact to householders is significant too, with the Waste Resources Action Programme estimating that wasting edible food costs households up to £720 each year. Research by HealthWatch Hertfordshire shows that consumers are changing what and where they buy food to reduce costs, but few are considering what they are needlessly wasting.

By offering a behaviour change campaign to support more of this food being eaten, Herts WasteAware is highlighting how much money is being throw away as food, whilst at the same time helping residents to save money. WorthSaving is a bold and engaging campaign sharing simple changes to help reduce the amount of food unnecessarily thrown away.

Campaign development engaged residents in a survey (3,312 responses) and focus groups to identify why and where food is wasted. The learnings were shared at a dedicated community event, seeking resident feedback on how these ‘waste activities’ could be lessened. Using insights gained, we created the ‘4 steps to save’ – a comprehensive behaviour change campaign offering interventions at each stage in the ‘food journey’ to address where most wastage happens including planning meals, considering what we buy, how we store it and what we eat. The resulting campaign was tested with a 6-month pilot in Three Rivers.

The #WorthSaving campaign has and continues to provide hundreds of thousands of opportunities to see the campaign. We use different QR codes for each communication method to track impact. This allows us to continue to update how the campaign is managed. The analysis shows that vehicle signage is top, followed by leaflets which show a 5% scan rate to the webpage.

Survey data completed after receiving a 5-week e-newsletter, as part of the campaign, showed that 80% of residents developed new habits, 83% saw a reduction in food waste and 89% gained knowledge about waste prevention.

When asked what they had learned, most comments were simple yet profound:

“To take a shopping list and stick to it.”

“Keeping an eye of dates and arranging things in the cupboard, freezer and fridge by date.”

“Use more of veg in different dishes and not waste them.”

Others had developed new skills: “How to save and store leftovers.”

“To plan my meals each week. It’s been a game changer.”

A second waste composition analysis after the 6-month trial showed a 18% reduction of edible food in residual bins in the pilot area (compared to the 2020 baseline). The control area saw a 4% ‘cost-of-living’ reduction. This strongly indicates the campaign facilitated a 14% reduction of edible food in the binhighlighting how the ‘4 Steps to Save’ supports tweaking of existing habits in small ways to make a real difference.

For more information and to access the campaign click on : www.wasteaware.org.uk/worthSaving Promotion included attendance at community events, talks to local groups, leaflet drops, school assemblies, posters in local hubs, media releases, social media, newsletter content and magazine advertising.

The most impactful interventions were rolled out county-wide including mail-outs in 3 districts. Dedicated campaign signage has been installed on a significant percentage of the 181 refuse collection vehicles deployed each day to provide waste, recycling and composting services to over 500,000 households across Hertfordshire.