On European Food Safety Day (Thursday 15 September) Plaid Cymru MEP Jill Evans is backing moves to reduce the amount food we waste.

It's estimated that in Wales around 410,000 tonnes of food is thrown away every year, an average of £420 per household annually. Tackling food waste is the theme of this year's European Food Safety Day.

Ms Evans praised efforts by Welsh local authorities to tackle the problem, including the introduction of kerbside food waste collection and recycling.

Plaid led Gwynedd council is developing an anaerobic digester to treat food waste and turn it into electricity which can feed into the national grid. The council already offers a food waste collection as does Plaid led Caerphilly council which has provided 'food caddies' to households to help the process.

Commenting Ms Evans said,

"Every year in Wales we waste a staggering amount of food, at a cost of around £420 per household on average. Often this is perfectly good food which doesn't need to be thrown away at all.

"I'm very pleased that the European Commission has decided to make tackling food waste a priority. The economic and environmental impact of wasted food across Europe is enormous with nearly ninety million tonnes of food being wasted annually across the continent.

"Action by local authorities to reduce and recycle wasted food is crucial in tackling this problem. That's why I'm pleased to see councils like Plaid led Gwynedd and Caerphilly leading the way in organising food waste collections and recycling.

"We all have a role to play in reducing the amount of food we throw away unnecessarily and in making sure that food waste gets recycled rather than being sent to landfill sites. There's plenty of advice available online about how to waste less food, for example by looking at portion sizes, or making better use of leftovers. It's also very important that we all take advantage of the separate food and organic waste collections offered by local councils if we are to reduce unnecessary waste in Wales."

In November Wales' Centre For Alternative Technology will host the finale of the This is Rubbish tour which has been travelling around the country to raise awareness of food waste. On 8 November Jill Evans will speak at a major conference in Brussels on Combating Food Waste in the EU to give the European Parliament perspective, alongside EU Environment Commissioner Janez Potocnik.

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