2 Dec 2019
SUSTAINABLE HOME: Experts share top tips for being more environmentally friendly this Christmas in new video series
Five videos will be shared as part of the new Sustainable Home series.
FIVE Loughborough experts are sharing their tips and tricks for making your home more sustainable this Christmas as part of a new video series.
Five videos will be shared as part of the new Sustainable Home series.
The ‘Sustainable Home’ videos feature academics from different research backgrounds and members of the University’s Sustainability team.
The series focuses on five key areas: food waste, energy use, fashion waste, recycling, and unsustainable packaging and products.
The videos share tips that can be used all year round but is hoped launching the series in December will lead to viewers having a more environmentally friendly Christmas and a greener 2020.
As despite it being labelled 'the most wonderful time of the year', it’s no secret that the festive period can be not-so-wonderful when it comes to excessive purchasing, energy use and waste.
Dr Elliot Woolley, a Senior Lecturer in Sustainable Manufacturing, is kicking off the Sustainable Home series by sharing his tips for reducing food waste.
According to Unilever, 4.2 million Christmas dinners were wasted in the UK in 2014. This figure equates to approximately 263,000 turkeys, 7.5 million mince pies, 740,000 slices of Christmas pudding, 17.2 million brussels sprouts, 11.9 million carrots and 11.3 million roast potatoes – so expert advice is really needed!
Dr Woolley’s tips for cutting food waste in the home are:
- Planning – know what you want to eat
- Purchasing – only buy what you need and avoid ‘BOGOF’ offers
- Storage – know what to store in the fridge and know the difference between ‘best-before’ and ‘use-by’ dates
- Preparation – only cook what you are going to eat
- Leftovers – store remaining food and remember to use it later
Learn to love your leftovers! Store them and use them to make another meal.
Dr Woolley commented: “The average family throws away about £700 worth of food each year. This is not just a drain on our finances, but also has significant environmental impacts – both in terms of production and waste management – and Christmas is no different.
“I have shared some practical approaches that you can take to reduce your food waste this Christmas (and the rest of the year), which will also save you money and reduce your carbon footprint.”
The ‘Loughborough Food Planner’ showcased in Dr Wolley's video was launched earlier this year by Dr Rhoda Trimingham and the PR team and can download for free here.
To keep up-to-date with the Sustainable Home videos, visit the Media Centre video and audio subsection.