The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has provided funding to support a new online series that seeks to drive awareness of the huge issue of food waste.
The series – All Taste Zero Waste – is a FoodCloud initiative that sees it partner up with a number of charities, as well as some of the country’s leading chefs who will feature in the programme.
Ireland currently generates 1.27 million tonnes of food waste annually, with the average family throwing away €700-€1,000 of food each year.
Research in 2020 carried out by Project Drawdown, found that reducing food waste was recognised as the number-one most effective way of fighting climate change.
What is Project Drawdown?
This is a non-profit organisation that seeks to help the world reach ‘drawdown’ – the future point in time when levels of GHGs in the atmosphere stop climbing and start to steadily decline.
Global food production accounts for around 35% of all greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), 8%-10% of which are directly related to food waste, according to FoodCloud.
For every kilogramme of food saved from landfill, 3.2 tonnes of CO2 emissions are avoided.
Did you know?
Food waste causes four times more carbon emissions than global aviation. This is because, as wasted food rots, it emits the powerful GHG, methane, which, according to the UN, has a 100-year global warming potential – 25 times that of CO2. Food waste is responsible for 8% of human-emitted GHGs globally but it is ranked as the number one solution for reversing climate change.
All Taste Zero Waste aims to highlight the importance of saving valuable surplus produce from landfill, and the positive impact that this will have on the environment.
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue said that food waste is an area where every kitchen table can make a meaningful impact on tackling climate change.
“As a nation, we are taking action through supporting organisations like FoodCloud under this annual food waste grant initiative. I am delighted to see the launch of this campaign and I encourage all food businesses and consumers alike to get involved to make sure that no good food goes to waste,” he said.
Across six episodes, chefs Mark Moriarty, Jess Murphy, Donal Skehan, Eric Matthews, William Murray, and Holly Dalton, will share their knowledge and expertise to help inspire positive change in homes and professional kitchens across the country.
All Taste Zero Waste also focuses on sharing the stories of charity chefs who use surplus ingredients supplied by FoodCloud daily to feed thousands of service users all over Ireland.
Commenting on the launch of All Taste Zero Waste, FoodCloud’s co-founder, Aoibheann O’Brien, said:
“Tackling food waste has been ranked by Project Drawdown as the number one solution for reversing climate change. To tackle this critical climate issue, we must first drive awareness of the problem, which is why we are so proud to be launching this series.
“We are thrilled that so many celebrity and charity chefs from around Ireland have come together to raise awareness of the issue of food waste in an engaging and entertaining way, and we are grateful to the DAFM for the funding to support this important initiative.”