Written by Honor, Year 10
Globally, a third of all food produced is thrown away, and in the UK more than 70% percent of this is estimated to be edible. The wasted food in the UK has a carbon footprint of approximately 18 million tonnes of CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalents) – which is the same as the entire population of the UK flying to Frankfurt and back! As the biggest contributor to food waste in Europe, we need to take steps to reduce our impact on the environment, and on the economy.
At Oxford High, we will be doing our bit by participating in National Food Waste Action Week from the 17th-23rd of March. On Wednesday the 19th we will host an OHS Green Screen in the Lecture Theatre after school from 4-6.30pm. This will be an opportunity to watch a series of short programmes on food waste and its impact, followed by a group discussion on the topic. There will be refreshments provided, and if you are interested in coming along, please book via the OHS box office.
As a school, we are also involved in the Thomas Franks Food Waste Challenge. Schools all across the UK are participating, and the goal is to reduce food waste by as much as possible over the course of 6 months. In January of this year, we wasted an average of 22.5kg of food per day. How much can we reduce this by? There are both regional and national prizes for the schools who are most successful.
Nationally, 60% of food waste comes from households, however there are simple changes that we can make together to reduce this significantly. Below, there is a link to some zero waste recipes. We hope that you have fun trying them out!