Stop Food Waste Challenge

The Stop Food Waste Challenge is a programme that supports householders to identify and initiate small behaviour changes that reduce the amount of food that they waste.

During four one-hour weekly meetings the issue of food waste is explored under the challenges of awareness, planning, shopping, storing and cooking.

Participants take a survey on the first and last meetings and are asked to record the types and weights of wasted food. This provides them with affirmative, ‘feel good’ proof of the changes that they have made and gives the Programme Coordinators information about the effectiveness of the programme.

The meetings incorporate many different learning methods including discussions, small group brainstorming, quizzes, videos and mini-lectures. The learning environment is therefore mainly participant-lead. Having explored the meeting’s topic, participants self-select the actions that they will take during the week and make a commitment to doing so. In the opening round of the following meeting they have a chance to share their experiences of trying the actions. The programme is structured to cultivate an atmosphere of mutual support and encouragement and this is central to its proven success.