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Tackling Food Waste Across Cumberland
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Personal Food Waste
Simple steps to cut waste and save more.
Plan and shop smarter
- Use a simple meal planner or shopping list to avoid impulse buys
- Check your fridge and pantry before you shop
Love Food Hate Waste tips
- Slash your food bill by up to £60/month
- Host or join a leftover-cooking workshop for soups, stocks, smoothies, and more
Store for freshness
- Freeze bread, bag up herbs, wrap cheeses,
- Some produce does better at room temperature, while others need refrigeration
- Keep bananas away from other fruits to slow ripening.
- Store leftovers and dry goods in airtight containers to prevent moisture and bacteria from spoiling them.
- Understand “use-by” vs “best-before” dates to avoid premature binning
See our section on composting for how to process unavoidable waste at home.
Personal Food Waste
Simple steps to cut waste and save more.
Plan and shop smarter
- Use a simple meal planner or shopping list to avoid impulse buys
- Check your fridge and pantry before you shop
Love Food Hate Waste tips
- Slash your food bill by up to £60/month
- Host or join a leftover-cooking workshop for soups, stocks, smoothies, and more
Store for freshness
- Freeze bread, bag up herbs, wrap cheeses,
- Some produce does better at room temperature, while others need refrigeration
- Keep bananas away from other fruits to slow ripening.
- Store leftovers and dry goods in airtight containers to prevent moisture and bacteria from spoiling them.
- Understand “use-by” vs “best-before” dates to avoid premature binning
See our section on composting for how to process unavoidable waste at home.
Business Food Waste
Working together to build a low-waste local economy
- Embrace the waste hierarchy
- Reduce: adjust portion sizes, repurpose trimmings, optimise inventory
- Redistribute: partner with local food pantries or sign up to Too Good to Go.
- Recycle: send peelings and plate scrapings for composting or anaerobic digestion
- Recover: explore energy-from-waste for unavoidable residues onsite.
- For inspiration and guidance, look here: Waste Reduction Resource Hub | Cumbria Tourism
- Local collection and compliance
- Under the Simpler Recycling legislation, businesses with ≥10 employees must separate food waste from March 2025 (all businesses by March 2027)
- Cumbria Waste Management Ltd offers commercial food-waste collections across Cumberland
- Guidance & training
- Explore Cumbria Tourism’s Waste Reduction Resource Hub for free tools, case studies and the Guardians of Grub food-waste reduction programme:
https://www.cumbriatourism.org/waste-reduction-resource-hub/ - Sign up for the Guardians of Grub 15-minute cost-saving course to train your team and cut waste by thousands of pounds a year: https://www.guardiansofgrub.com/
- Explore Cumbria Tourism’s Waste Reduction Resource Hub for free tools, case studies and the Guardians of Grub food-waste reduction programme:
Composting & Digestion: Turn Scraps into Soil Gold
- Home composting
- Order a Green Johanna or Green Cone Cumberland Council – GetComposting
- Join Cumbria Master Composters at one of their demo sites to learn best practice
- Community & commercial hubs
- Find a community composting project via Cumbria Master Composters or Cumbria Wildlife Trust
- Explore on-farm composting and small-scale Anaerobic Digestion (AD) through Cumbria Connect and Zero Carbon Cumbria
- 5 simple composting steps
- Choose a sunny spot with drainage twigs
- Alternate “greens” (kitchen peelings, grass cuttings) with “browns” (leaves, cardboard)
- Keep moist but not waterlogged
- Turn monthly to aerate
- Harvest rich compost after 3 - 6 months
Additional Resources for Homeowners and Businesses
Looking to go further? These national and local initiatives offer practical tools, funding and support to help you tackle food waste and composting at home or in your business.
For Homeowners
- Love Food Hate Waste (WRAP)
Practical guides, recipes and shopping planners to slash household food waste by up to 50%.
https://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/ - BBC Good Food: How to Reduce Food Waste
Tested kitchen tips - from making bone broths to freezer-friendly batch cooking.
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/how-reduce-food-waste - Master Composters Cumbria
Free workshops, demo sites and one-on-one advice on home composting best practice.
https://www.recycleforcumbria.org.uk/composting - Make Food Not Waste
Comprehensive resources on meal planning, date-label decoding and apartment-friendly vermicomposting.
https://makefoodnotwaste.org/resources/ - Community Composting Schemes
Find your nearest drop-off or garden-share via Cumbria Master Composters or Cumbria Wildlife Trust.
https://www.cumbriawildlifetrust.org.uk/get-involved/volunteer
Garden Organic | Cumbria Master Composters
For Businesses
- WRAP Food Waste Reduction Roadmap
Free toolkit and “Target, Measure, Act” framework for retailers, hospitality and manufacturing.
https://wrap.org.uk/take-action/uk-food-drink-pact/food-waste-reduction-roadmap - Cumbria Tourism Waste Reduction Resource Hub
Case studies, templates and the Guardians of Grub training to save costs and cut waste.
https://www.cumbriatourism.org/waste-reduction-resource-hub/ - FareShare Tips for Reducing Food Waste
Quick wins - from fridge checks to portion planning - and routes for donating surplus to local charities.
https://fareshare.org.uk/tips-for-reducing-food-waste/ - Too Good To Go & Olio
Apps to move your unsold or surplus stock directly into the hands of local consumers.
https://toogoodtogo.co.uk/ | https://olioex.com/