Composting is a completely natural way of recycling and is an excellent way of dealing with vegetable peelings, fruit skins or even used teabags. Alternatively the Green Cone, available in selected stores, is great for getting rid of household food waste in an environmentally friendly way, leaving a small amount of solid waste that will only need to be removed every few years. It takes all household food waste, including vegetables, dairy products, raw and cooked meat or fish, and other kitchen waste eg. teabags, bread etc. Includes a four-litre kitchen caddy for collecting and carrying household food waste to the Green Cone. And if you don't have
a garden, it's good to
know that many local
councils now collect
food waste too.

Research done by the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) for its recently launched Love Food Hate Waste campaign revealed that in the UK we throw away a staggering one-third of the food we buy. TV chef, Ainsley Harriott, is supporting the campaign along with several other chefs and celebrities. He says, 'You don't have to be a chef to know how to cut down on food waste, you just need to care about your food and your pocket and the rest will follow.'

Much wasted food ends up in landfill where it produces methane, a potent greenhouse gas. 'It is sad that so much food is being wasted needlessly,' says Dr Liz Goodwin, WRAP Chief Executive. 'At a cost of £8bn a year, it's a serious issue that not only impacts the environment but our pockets, too.' Add in the energy needed to package, transport and deliver food to our homes and it all produces the equivalent of at least 15 million tonnes of carbon dioxide every year. 'Preventing this would be the same as taking one in five cars off UK roads,' explains Liz Goodwin.

It's always heartening to see conservation work pay off. In Britain red kites once again command the skies over Oxfordshire, beavers have been reintroduced to WWT's Martin Mere reserve (where BBC TV's Springwatch and Autumnwatch are filmed) and kingfisher numbers have radically increased on our waterways. Now spectacular 'dancing' cranes (the dancing is part of their mating ritual) are breeding in this country for the first time in 400 years, on land transformed by the RSPB from fields to wetland nature reserve. Grahame Madge, an RSPB spokesman, says, 'In time, we hope these amazing birds will become re-established in many parts of Britain.' For more information on conservation work visit www.rspb.org.uk.

Make a shopping list and stick to it.
Watch your portion control, only cook what you need, eg pasta and rice.
Use up leftovers in soups and salads. For more information on cutting down on food waste, 'ways with leftovers' plus ideas on preparation, storage, portioning and recipes, visit www.lovefoodhatewaste.com.