Reduce your food waste for your wallet and the planet!

In Blackburn with Darwen food waste continues to account for over 40% of the contents of the burgundy bin, with half of it still being edible or in date.

By mid 2026, weekly food waste collections will become the norm for most households across England and residents in the borough will be provided with a kitchen caddie and a separate small 25 litre food waste bin to make it easier to dispose of your food waste. The kitchen caddies will have liners that can be tied and placed in the food waste bin when full. Once the bin is emptied it will be returned to you.

However it’s incredibly important that we all play our part in eliminating the amount of food waste we produce. Reducing your food waste can not only have an impact on your wallet or purse but also on the environment too. On average, each household in the UK is wasting £700 a year by throwing away food that could still be consumed. And it’s also having an impact on climate change. According to the UN, food loss and waste generates around 8% of all greenhouse gas emissions caused by human activity each year.

Councillor Jim Smith, Executive Member for Environment said:

It’s crucial that we join together to eliminate food waste. Not only is it costing you the residents a huge amount of money, but it’s also having a negative impact on the environment – affecting our next generation. Taking small steps to make your food go further can dramatically reduce your waste.

Whether you’ve just finished an iftar meal or have found yourself with more food than you and your family can eat, there are lots of great things you can do with what’s left over:

You can repurpose leftovers and have them the following day. Leftover meat and veg can be added to curries, fritters or one pot dishes such as tagines. Or you could mix your leftover veg and flatbreads with eggs to make a delicious shakshuka.

Freezing food is a fantastic option – there are very few things you can’t freeze. Doing this means you can have easy meals for later in Ramadan or once Eid has been and gone. You can freeze roasted vegetables and meat and place them in freezer bags to use in dishes. And you can even freeze flatbreads and rice too. But remember rice can only be reheated once!

And you could always share any surplus food with friends, family or the local community.

And taking note of food labels is important too. For example, ‘best before’ refers to the quality of the food, meaning before the date given, the food will be at its best. However, it will still be safe to use after this date and depending on how your food has been stored, it has the potential to be good enough to eat long after this date.

For more information about reducing your food waste, visit Love Food Hate Waste on Love Food Hate Waste / Preventing food waste