Preparing for a Low Waste Sporty Summer

Now we are into the summer months, with the Euros and Wimbledon well underway, and the Olympics only just around the corner, it’s time to think about preventing waste during the sporty season. 

From reducing use of single-use items to wasting food, we will cover it all in this article. 

Food waste 

At this time of year, many of us will gather with family and friends in the sunshine, whether to watch a sporting event or just as a get-together. Whether it be a BBQ in our garden or a picnic in the park, there’s usually some food involved.  

If you are hosting a BBQ you might want to find out some more helpful hints via our article about avoiding food waste at BBQs or find out about disposing of BBQ coals and ashes safely. 

Whatever and wherever the event is, you can think ahead by considering Love Food Hate Waste’s five key behaviours to reduce food waste: 

1. Planning – Make a shopping list of what food you need whilst looking at what you already have in your cupboard, fridge and freezer at home. 
2. Portions – Consider how many people you are feeding and when serving, consider putting food in the middle of the table or serve ‘buffet style’ so people can portion how much food they want. 
3. Date labels – Look at the dates when buying food to make sure it will last for your event. Remember: use by dates are about the safety of the food and should be adhered to whilst best before dates are about the quality of the food and if they look, smell and taste okay then should still be safe to consume following this date. 
4. Leftovers – Put any leftovers in airtight containers and put in your fridge or freezer. You could ask your guests if they’d like to take any leftovers home. 
5. Storage – Store any leftovers in the fridge as soon as possible – within the hour of cooking and make sure to eat them up within two days of storing in the fridge. 

Reusing 

With the many big sporting events taking place, it might be tempting to go online and buy a brand-new football shirt or loads of sporting decorations for the occasion, or throwing everything away at the end of summer, but why not try to reuse what you already have. 

• You could look online for a second-hand football shirt or England decorations to decorate your house if you don’t currently have any. 

• You could keep any flags for using for another event such as the next England football match or St George’s Day.  

• If you do have a shirt you no longer want that’s still wearable, please donate it to a charity shop or sell it rather than binning it 

Recycling 

Over the summer, many of us will have a drink of some sort in hand and it’s worth taking note of things like drink cans and takeaway packaging that you can and can’t recycle. Whilst you may be able to recycle some of the items listed below, please make sure they’re clean and dry before putting them in you recycling bin at home. 

Y- Metal cans  

Y- Glass bottles 

Y- Clear plastic takeaway container (better still, you could reuse this!) 

Y- Foil trays 

Y- Paper bags and cardboard boxes 

X- Greasy pizza boxes 

X- Unwanted shirts, flags and other textiles 

X- Any embellished or foiled decorations 

X- Food waste 

You can find more information about what you can and can’t recycle in Leicestershire (excluding North West District) by reading our list of items accepted for recycling at Casepak.