Food. Scran. Grub. Nosh. Cuisine. It provides us with sustenance, pleasure and fodder for our Instagram feeds. But as much as we all love it, few people realise the real impact that food production has on our planet.
About a quarter of our ecological footprint comes from the food we eat (or waste). Some of the biggest environmental impacts come from the meat and dairy industry, but there are also negative impacts to eating out of season fruit and vegetables, or those grown using large amounts of artificial pesticides and fertilisers.
As part of our One Planet Living framework Bioregional advocates local and sustainable food. For us, this means healthy diets, high in vegetable protein, fresh, seasonal and organic produce and zero food waste.
Food Matters Live – the annual event which brings together producers, retailers, food service providers, government and nutrition experts, to support a sustainable food landscape for the future – is on in London this week. So I thought I’d share some of Bioregional’s favourite products, innovations and campaigns that are trying make the food and drink we consume more sustainable and (almost) guilt- free – calories, sugar and alcohol content aside!
Beer from bread
Toast Ale is made to a special recipe that includes fresh, surplus bread that would otherwise be wasted. All profits go to the charity Feedback to support the fight against food waste. As its website says, Toast is “the best thing since… well, you know”.
Inglorious fruit and veg – making ‘ugly’ food beautiful
To battle food waste, French Intermarché launched a massive global campaign in 2014 to glorify ‘ugly’ fruit and vegetables in print, billboards, TV, radio, PR, and Intermarché’s catalogues and social media platforms. The stores were rebranded ‘inglorious’, from floor to ceiling, and finally, for people to realise that they were just as good as the others, Intermarché designed and distributed inglorious vegetables soups and inglorious fruit juices.
Smart urban farming
GrowUp Urban Farms in London produces fish and vegetables combining aquaponics and vertical growing in unused urban spaces. Aquaponics is a recirculating system that combines hydroponics (growing plants in water without soil) and aquaculture (fish farming) to create an efficient closed- loop system. The only inputs into the system are the fish food, and the energy for the pumps and water heaters; no chemical fertilisers or pesticides are used.
Rubies in the Rubble
“Some say it’s a load of rubbish. We take that as a condiment”. Inspired by seeing the amount of discarded produce at fruit and veg markets across London, Rubies in the Rubble was founded to give new life to food waste. It works with UK farmers, sourcing fresh fruit and veg from their surplus produce to produce pickles, jams and relishes. The website also tells you how much produce was saved from the bin each month and shares recipes to help reduce food waste.
Vegcurious
This campaign from Hubbub uses humour and shameless innuendo to encourage men to explore vegetable protein in place of meat. The campaign aims to break through the cultural associations between meat and manliness, and bust some prevailing male myths about vegetables (eg they are harder to cook and contain less protein). It provides recipes from top chefs and encourages men to ‘come out’ as vegcurious and share their experiences online.
Putting surplus food to good use
FareShare saves good food destined for waste and sends it to charities and community groups who transform it into nutritious meals for vulnerable people. There are regional branches all over the UK and it’s estimated they provided around 22million meals last year alone.
Neighbourly Food helps businesses and charities make the best possible use of surplus food. It’s designed to fix the problem of redistributing excess food locally, especially fresh food, by connecting businesses that have surplus with projects that feed those in need. Businesses can create donations whenever there is food going spare and charities can set up alerts to find out what’s available and arrange collection. Every M&S store in the UK is now connected with a local charity to redistribute any surplus food.
Insulation from feathers
Feathers are one of the most difficult waste streams the food industry has to deal with. But students from Imperial College London have developed Aeropowder – a low-carbon home insulation made from using waste feathers from the poultry industry. Substituting blended feathers for about 30% of polyurethane foam in home insulation produces a cheaper material with similar heat-retention qualities.
And finally…
Don’t cry over spilt milk, make loo roll out of it
Carezza di Latte – which translates as “milk caress” – is a collaboration between German fabric innovator Qmilk and Italian company Lucart, one of Europe’s largest manufacturers of paper and tissue products. The idea arose from the struggle to find fabrics that are not chemically treated; after creating a woven textile from sour milk protein, Qmilk moved on to creating a non-woven fabric that can be used to produce toilet roll.
To learn more about Food waste read Vision 2020: UK roadmap to zero food waste to landfill
Learn more about our work with the circular economy
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