Wanted: the food waste culprits in your kitchen!

It’s time for some detective work! When did you last stop to look inside your food waste bin … urgh! … or pay attention to what gets put in there? Detectives must have their eyes peeled and notice the smallest details. With your wits about you, and your notepad to hand, can you investigate which food type is most often wasted in your house? What are the worst offenders?

Are you intrigued? Where is all your food waste coming from? Sandwich crusts? Potato peelings? Brown bananas? Mouldy cheese? Wilted carrots? Something lurking at the back of the fridge? Which foods do YOU and YOUR family waste – maybe use a secret code or a symbol to note down each type of waste? 

After some ‘careful analysis’ what do YOU think can be done to reduce your household food waste, can you make some family suggestions? Turn wilted carrots into soup, cake … or simply roast them? Mash potatoes with their skins on? Make breadcrumbs from your crusts to sprinkle on a pie? Freeze your brown bananas to make a cake or a smoothie in the future? Keep a sharp detective’s eye on your fridge contents and freeze food you won’t be able to use in time. Carrots are one of our top 10 food bin items – check out these ideas to make your carrots go fuuuurther! And for other tips and recipe ideas join in with Stopfoodwasteday2026 – Wednesday 29^th April.

So what’s the issue with ‘food waste’? Well, prepare to be shocked - a third of food produced globally is wasted! That’s a lot of unnecessary energy, water and raw materials used to produce food that’s not even eaten! If food waste is thrown into the ‘normal’ rubbish bin, it ends up in landfill sites. There, it’s broken down by methane-producing bacteria – and methane has about 30 times the warming potential of carbon dioxide over 100 years. That’s really bad for climate change! And guess what … in the UK, nearly 4 million tonnes of household food waste ends up incinerated or in landfill every single year!! That's roughly the weight of 400 Eiffel Towers going to waste!! Instead of ending up in landfill, food waste can be turned into compost, farm bio-fertiliser or even used to create electricity!

You might think food waste looks a bit disgusting, but worms and black soldier flies love it. Check out this ‘worm vs banana’ time-lapse video, and this UAE project … making fuel from food waste … with the help of black soldier flies.

Email Kate at hello@youngclimatewarriors.org when you’ve worked out the main food waste culprits (not the individuals, but the food types!) - and how you can stop them in their tracks!