Greener Food and Drink

A guide to greener food and drink

It's not just transport and home appliances that contribute to CO2 emissions but producing, transporting and consuming food and drink makes up nearly a third of our climate change.

Below are a few pointers that can help you choose and prepare food that can help protect the environment.

• If you throw away food and it ends up on a landfill then it produces methane, a greenhouse gas that is 20 times more harmful to the environment than CO2. In the UK, an average household spends £424 on food that ends up in the bin.

• Food grown in heated greenhouses and food transported by air affects the environment much greater than grains, pulses, and outdoor vegetables and fruit.

• Rail, road and sea food transportation, is a lot more environmentally friendly than food transported by air.

• Foods that are grown in heated greenhouses such as tomatoes require a lot of energy.

• Healthy eating needs to be encouraged with more fruit and veg and less saturated fats

• Cutting down on processed food and eating fresh fruit and veg will mean that less energy was used in production.

• You are able to buy food that is less harmful to the environment and wildlife. These are labelled with the green labels (food produced in a more wildlife friendly way), Organic certification and the LEAF Marque.

• Buy directly from farmers who take great care in looking after their livestock.

• Cut down on  car journeys for food shopping

• Drink more tapped water and less bottled - this way you don't need to recycle bottles and less energy is being used.

How to have greener kitchens:

• If you have a microwave then use it more often - they cook food a lot quicker than an conventional ovens

• When boiling food or liquid, put a lid over the pan so it boils quicker and less energy will be needed.

• Boiling water for your teas and coffees is a lot more environmentally friendly than your average electric kettle.

• If buying new appliances for the home such as a fridge, freezer, cooker and kettle try and buy energy efficient models. Choose to have a smaller fridge/freezer than you'd normally go for, use gas rather than electric and if buying a kettle avoid the tempting extras such as lights or keep warm functions.