Lambeth Council’s Public Health and Environmental Services teams have joined forces with their waste contractor Veolia and The People’s Fridge to create a suite of new resources to help residents make the most of their food.
The team at The People’s Fridge have put together a local food network guide for Lambeth residents containing top tips for turning common leftovers into healthy dishes. There’s also a feast of information on local projects and community cafes working with surplus food.
Veolia and Lambeth Council have produced some informative videos that show how to cook delicious, nutritious food while reducing food waste, starring local resident Valcie Mcintosh from Papa’s Café in Brixton. Valcie showcases three of her favourite recipes that not only use up commonly left over foods, but are also tasty and healthy.
Lambeth’s Cabinet Member for Housing and Environment, Jennifer Brathwaite, is also supportive of the campaign: “Food can sometimes be functional and throw-away; a sandwich we grab and eat on the bus, or a salad we chuck in the bin because we forgot it was there or were too busy at work to get home and eat it. The Small Change, Big Difference campaign shows that simple ideas and small changes can reduce the environmental impact of the food we eat, as well as save us money and make us healthier.”
Over the next two years the ‘Small Change, Big Difference’ team will be working with local residents in nine London boroughs - young, old and everyone in-between - to create local pop-up dining events, raw food art photography and food-related installations by local artists, new mouth-watering recipes, exclusive online cookery classes as well as life hacks and tips to save time, money and get all of us better at recycling the bits that can’t be eaten. For more information and to sign up for events and workshops check out www.smallchangebigdifference.london.
Check out Valcie's Jerk Chicken Recipe below:
Notes to editors:
Small Change, Big Difference is communicating key messages encouraging:
- Better food purchasing and consumption habits to promote healthy and sustainable eating
- Food waste prevention - avoiding good food from ending up in the bin
- That any food waste that is produced in the home is recycled in a separate food waste bin
Healthy sustainable eating
- Food that’s good for your body is often good for the environment too. Beans, pulses, fruit and vegetables aren’t just packed full of the nutrients we need, they’re better for the planet too. These lean, green foods result in fewer emissions and generally require less water than animal products as well as keep your heart ticking over.
Food waste prevention
- It’s easy for the food in your fridge or cupboard to be forgotten. The use-by date arrives before you know it and you’ve failed (again) to make it last.
But a few simple changes can help. Why not swap some of your fresh fruit and veg for frozen or canned? They’re rich in nutrients and last much, much longer. Or freeze those last few slices of bread and use them later for toast or garlicky croutons. It’s not stale bread, it’s cooking bread!
Food waste recycling
- Recycling food is as important as any other type of recycling, so whether it’s tea bags, potato peelings or egg shells, every last bit of unavoidable food waste belongs in your caddy. So, let’s make it the norm, the default – a non-negotiable part of being a Londoner: something you’d do as naturally as stand on the right and walk on the left of an Underground escalator. Mind the waste.
Whilst the campaign is London-wide, nine boroughs are receiving additional support to promote the Small Change, Big Difference campaign to their local residents. They are:
Bexley, Croydon, Hackney, Hounslow, Islington, Lambeth, Merton, Sutton and Tower Hamlets.
Visit the website for more information: www.smallchangebigdifference.london
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About Veolia UK
Veolia is committed to protecting the environment and improving the lives of the communities in which it operates. Veolia has been awarded two of the UK's most prestigious business accolades for its role as an environmental and social sustainability leader. It was recognised in 2016 as Business in the Community's Responsible Business of the Year, and in 2014 it was awarded the Queen's Award for Enterprise in Sustainable Development.
Veolia group is the global leader in optimised resource management. With over 174 000 employees worldwide, the Group designs and provides water, waste and energy management solutions that contribute to the sustainable development of communities and industries. Through its three complementary business activities, Veolia helps to develop access to resources, preserve available resources, and to replenish them.
In 2015, the Veolia group supplied 100 million people with drinking water and 63 million people with wastewater service, produced 63 million megawatt hours of energy and converted 42.9 million metric tons of waste into new materials and energy. Veolia Environnement (listed on Paris Euronext: VIE) recorded consolidated revenue of €25 billion in 2015. www.veolia.com
For more information visit us at www.veolia.co.uk or follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/veoliauk.
About The People’s Fridge
The People’s Fridge is a community fridge in the heart of Brixton, south London. It is a place where people and businesses can leave spare, edible food for others to take for free. Open 7 days a week in Pop Brixton, The People’s Fridge has already helped hundreds of people find a good home for surplus food. The project, which launched in February 2017, is a grassroots community initiative created by food activists and community leaders in Impact Hub Brixton. Funded by a successful crowdfunding campaign and looked after by local volunteers and food traders, it has already saved more than five tonnes of food from going to waste. It has also helped create a movement of more than 50 community fridges across the United Kingdom.
You can find out more at www.peoplesfridge.com.