Down the drain: Tapping into drinks waste
The damaging effects of binning food are often well documented. However, we rarely think of the 11% liquid waste that makes up what we think of as ‘food waste’ as being part of the problem.
Because it doesn’t go in the bin we tend not to view disposed of drink as waste. A large proportion of householders claim to ‘never’ dispose of any drink be it fizzy juice, milk, coffee, smoothies or even bottled water.
This is particularly the case for alcoholic drinks where over 80% of those living in the UK swear they don’t waste a drop – but that’s not what the facts say.
Drink waste has a high carbon cost yet most of us don’t think twice about pouring something down the sink. #HowToWasteLess
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Why we should be crying over spilt milk
800 thousand tonnes of drink were estimated to be disposed of via the sewer in the UK in one year which adds up to an astonishing £1.4 billion of drink disposed of each year by households. Given this amount of waste, clearly, far more of us are guilty of waste than we would like to think.
Even though it’s not being sent to landfill it is still damaging to the planet. The resources that go into growing, harvesting, transporting, and processing that drink all have a carbon cost, meaning wasting the product will have a significant environmental effect, just as it does with landfilled waste.
Most of the food and drink poured away in Scotland is avoidable, meaning that if we had planned and stored it better in the home, it need not have gone to waste.
Ways to prevent drink waste
Love Food Hate Waste Scotland will be exploring drink waste as part of their ‘Down the drain’ campaign and urging us all to think not only about the food we put in the bin but also the liquid (and money) we are pouring down the drain.
Follow Love Food Hate Waste Scotland on Facebook or Instagram for everything from sustainable cocktails and turning leftover drink into tasty treat, to storage tips and some very unusual uses for beer!
Cocktails...with a twist!
To launch the campaign, Love Food Hate Waste Scotland took over a bar at The Neighbourgood Market and served some unsuspecting punters. Watch what happened below
