On Sunday the 11th of April, This is Rubbish, Pangolin's Ark and The Arcola Theatre curated and delivered a sustainable food marathon as part of the Arcola's Green Sunday program.

There were free food events, workshops and talks during the day with a range of experts, artists and collaborators making the program diverse, informative and creative. In the day, guest speakers included Kelvin Chung Director of Food Cycle, Lisa Stockton, manager of Happy Kitchens, Anna Jones from Greenpeace, Part time Carnivore and Rebecca Temple from SOAS food coop. We also had artists running workshops including edible poetry from Talia Randall, the mobile dining table from Alex Parry and chocolate sculptures from Tabitha Gravener and Will Vanwyngaarden who created a satirical food advertisement. Down to Earth were donated a range of vegetable and salad seeds by Sutton's that were given out to be planted during the day and at the evenings feast. We hope that many seeds will be planted and the harvest digested in the near future.

The evenings feast Dining Down to Earth was a delicious mix of food, arts, and education. The three course menu consisted of food that otherwise would've been wasted, sourced with help from Foodcycle from Sainsbury's and a large London fruit and veg wholesale market. Other ingredients that could not be sourced as surplus were kindly donated by Abel and Cole. The feast also included bread baked by organic Homerton baker Ben MacKinnon of East London Bakehouse, and tasters of Freedom, a frozen fruit smoothie delivered by the Freedom Project, made from ingredients that otherwise would've been wasted handed round at dessert. This is Rubbish would like to say a big thank you to Foodcycle, Sainsbury's, Abel and Cole,  our Wholesale market links The Freedom Project and Ben Mackinnon for providing This is Rubbish with the surplus and sustainably sourced ingredients. The plates were provided by The Whole Leaf company, and the compost caddies that stored the freshly chopped fruit were kindly donated by British Bins. A huge thank you to all organisations that supported the realisation of Dining Down to Earth.

The event was produced on an entirely voluntary basis, including all This is Rubbish project workers and Pangolin's Ark crew. Without our hoards of kitchen (we prepared our food at the fantastic Happy Kitchens) and divine deity volunteers all chipping in, the event simply would not have happened, so an enormous thank you to everyone who helped out cooking on Saturday and Sunday, and all the divine bodies who dressed up as international dirt deities to serve the food in a celebratory, theatrical and enriching manner!

Dining Down to Earth was a feast modelled on the medieval feasting ceremonies, where communities came together to share food, entertainment and ideas in a celebratory and theatrical manner. Wonderful music was played to the tables by Plaster of Paris and Theo Bard and friends, which set a relaxed and evocative tone to the evening. Frannie Donohue and Diego danced an ode to the earth, bringing a stillness to the feast, profoundly exploring the idea of physical connections to the earth through striking and emotional choreography. An informative and educational aspect was added to the feast with insightful and informative speeches given by Tristram Stuart, author of Waste; Uncovering the global food scandal, Richard Reynolds the founder of Guerrilla Gardening and Seb Mayfield from Capital Growth. Collective food preparation was not off the menu, with a large scale fruit salad toss taking place in the street. Feasters and deities tossed chopped fruit in a large tarpaulin that was served up from a shovel! This is Rubbish would like to say a huge thank you to all musicians, artists, key note speakers and feasters for contributing to the inter disciplinary sustainable social feast that was Dining Down to Earth.

Dining Down to Earth was an exciting and exhilarating project to work on, and many links have been established through the realisation of the first This is Rubbish sustainable feast. There are plans afoot to pursue our interest in using the medium of the feast to engage audiences and communities in sustainable food issues while raising awareness about food waste, and proposing political individual and industry solutions. We hope to deliver another food waste feast sometime in the year ahead!

Do visit our facebook page and flickr account for the first batch of photos from the Down to Earth event.

A day of food sustainability talks, and an evening feast from food that otherwise would've been wasted and ingredients supplied by Abel & Cole is getting closer. Down to Earth at the Arcola Theatre will be a day of nourishing information and insights into practical and enriching methods to make our food supply chain and eating habits more sustainable.

See here for the Down to Earth program, and here for details of Dining Down to Earth. Look forward to seeing you there!

This is Rubbish are very pleased and excited to be collaborating with The Arcola Theatre and Pangolin's Ark. On Sunday the 11th April The Arcola Theatre, This is Rubbish and Pangolin's Ark will host a day of sustainable food themed talks, activities and workshops, followed by a fine food waste and sustainably sourced feast.

Buy tickets for the feast here

We are currently scheduling the workshops and a detailed program of the day will be released soon. Tickets for the feast will also be on sale in the very near future. Watch this space!

If you fancy getting involved with a crew chopathon and baking session, we're looking for volunteers to help prepare and cook the food on the Saturday, and volunteers to help prepare and serve the food during the evening event on Sunday. The soil service (waitresses and waiters) will be dressed up as soil particles, salad and vegetables and service will be very interactive and incredibly earthy!

Give us a shout if you are interested on helping out on day that is set to be super soily and sustainably wonderful.

info@thisisrubbish.org.uk

poppy@pangolins-ark.co.uk

This is Rubbish aims to educate people about the scale of food waste in the UK, and to emphasise the fact that reducing this waste is the joint responsibility of people and companies.

* Less than 40% of UK food waste is produced by households.

* We are solutions driven, and offer community focused food waste redistribution solutions to the food industry

* We want to see all retailers obliged to report on the food waste they generate in
their activities, with annual reports audited and publicised by an independent commission

* We want the government to introduce an obligation upon retailers to reduce
food waste.

You can follow This is Rubbish on facebook,  twitter and flickr.

TiR were invited to run a food waste workshop at Hungry for Activism, which was a public food policy event taking place in Leeds Civic Hall on the 20th February.

The day started with an early rise and some last minute amendments of the very first TiR power point presentation, some carefully selected outfits and a healthy dose of porridge. Arriving at Leeds civic hall was a pleasant affair, a large ice rink stood in front of an even bigger building, that stood authoritatively and with a light grandiose.

When we entered the building, we were shown the TiR workshop / presentation room; the central council chamber. The room was a large oblong set out in a oval seating arrangement with a huge tapestry set behind the main desk, mahogany seats encircled the main floor and balcony viewing platforms sat at each end of the room. It felt very official and archaically political, which of course it was. Voting ballot boxes were set in discreet draws in front of every seat, likewise, every seat had its own microphone. I was reminded of images from Copenhagen conferences, which was more intimidating than exciting, but the setting really emphasized the very political nature of food waste, production and availability.

The workshop began with Kate introducing the history of TiR and how we came to exist; local bin diving leading onto wholesale skip salvaging, and public food waste feasting @ Feeding 5000. We went onto present the political principles that anchor TiR as a policy based anti food waste campaign. Realigning the public focus from individual food waste to industry food waste, proposing the introduction of an independent annual food waste audits, and implementing subsequent annual food waste reduction targets. I then went onto deliver a food waste fact presentation, that was actually a bit long, and will now be cut down to a more bite size format.

The Chuck out chain food waste game followed, with most audience members getting to their feet to become a human component of the food supply chain of a carrot and a potato. The aim of the game was for team members to organise themselves into the correct supply chain order for both carrots and potatoes, and then throw away the right quantities of food waste at every level of the supply chain. Players were randomly given cards with the supply chain part on them and a percentage of food waste. For example, Farm Surplus food supply chain part had to throw away 20% of carrots received, both bits of information was contained on the cards given to players. Once players got themselves in order, the supply chain was handed 100 units of carrots or potatoes, and at every stage the players had to throw away the right amount of food stuff, illustrating where food is wasted in the supply chain. After test playing with the public, the game would be better applied in the future as a role playing audience participation exercise, using audience members to embody parts of the supply chain rather than having the whole audience come and play the game. More role playing and dressing up elements could be incorporated, so the farmer gets to wear wellies and a farmers cap, a barley stalk in their mouth etc, and the processor gets to wear a hairnet and blue gloves etc. The game cards needed to be bigger to allow the more non-verbal players to hold up their supply chain cards and demonstrate to their food production team what part of the supply chain they were.

The game was followed by an open discussion which turned into more of a Q&A session. This was a style of dialogue between the 'panel" and the audience that I'd be keen to avoid in the future. This is because it can lock the audience into a position of learner rather than equal participants and contributors. TiR is eager to facilitate democratic and equal dialogue among ourselves and audience. Sitting in a circle and setting up smaller discussion groups would be a better format to deliver at our next public workshop.

All in all, the event was a success, but it's fair to say that it also functioned as a huge learning curve. It was the first public workshop / speaking event that those of us speaking had ever done, and we learnt valuable lessons. We did get lots of positive feedback (and a few constructive criticisms) and almost all members of the audience independently signed up to our mailing list, which we took as a sign of interest and validation of the relevance and usefulness of our first public presentation.

Organic farming is different to intensive farming as it bans chemical fertilizers, heavily restricts the use of pesticides, disallows the use of chemical medicines, and antibiotics and instead encourages preventative livestock rearing methods such as maintaining larger fresher pastures and keeping smaller herds, GM feedstock for livestock is also prohibited. Conversely, conventional intensive farming frequently creates dense monocultures of crop and livestock, encouraging high yields through the thick application of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and dosing animals with chemical antibiotics. When synthetic fertilizers are applied to soil they are released quickly, so enabling rapid crop growth. However, the chemical fertilizers are an illusion of fertility as they maim living organisms in the soil. Once application is reduced, it takes a long time for the microbial life in the soil to recover. Such intense chemical application also decreases the soil organic matter, a vital range of ingredients that allows soil to lock up carbon, which if encouraged could be an effective carbon reduction land management method.

The farming, food production and supply system is complex, and we were interested to join in the debate and study sessions of subjects such as soil carbon and low carbon farming, however the main reason we went was to ask Hilary Benn a question from the floor. As one of the main speakers on food policy on the day, and the secretary of state for food environment and rural affairs. TiR thought he would be the ideal MP to question about plans to implement an obligatory annual food waste audit and subsequent food waste reduction targets across the food industry. When questioned about policy plans to reduce food waste in the supply chain, and whether or not such stringent regulations would be introduced to quantify and reduce food waste, he said no. His main reason was because such a system would be impossible to roll out and police. However, this is indolent thinking on the governments part. Main retailers often quantify how much they throw away, they just don't release it. If the data is already there then the government must force the retailers to declare their annual waste quantities and reveal their waste quantification methodologies. Waste auditing could even be based on simple arithmetic; quantities of stock is ordered in minus quantities of stock is sold, the remainder is surplus. The harder aspect of such waste reduction strategies would be to introduce a means of quantification that can be employed at every level of our myriad supply chain.

Surprisingly, it seems that it would be relatively easy to audit food waste arising at large manufacturing centres. In the UK and the EU large manufacturers are already required to report on tonnages of solid waste arising in their process under a regulation known as the Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC). Within this measuring mechanism, the quantification of food waste could also be introduced. This would immediately allow food waste reports to be conducted on 30 - 40% of the UK's food manufacturing industry. In terms of human resources, that dear old Benn might be worried about the expense of, Defra estimates that it would take only 2 employees to manage this entire scheme at a cost of £100,000 per year. If such a scheme was rolled out with the inclusion of food waste fines / tonne, the subsequent income generated from the tax could assist the funding of an industry wide food waste auditing scheme, covering catering, the public sector and farms.

The Food Industry Sustainability Strategy (FISS) proposes that food industries adopt a voluntary food waste reduction target of 3% annual food waste reduction from a 2006 baseline, this is unsatisfactory because it is a low target but also it is a non enforced action. In his book Waste, Tristram Stuart suggests that a 50% food waste reduction across main food industries should be incentivised over a period of 5 years. If reduction targets aren't met, then businesses will have to pay for the wastage of valuable food. This is Rubbish endorses the introduction of such waste reduction targets. In the first years of auditing and the adoption of food waste reduction targets, big businesses and main retailers should lead the way in demonstrating best low food waste practice. This would mean that the biggest wasters, reduce their waste initially and incur any costs due to the fact that such businesses have been central in accepting and concealing an incredibly edible waste problem. This main industry waste audit and reduction adoption would also mean that smaller businesses and local food producers and suppliers aren't disadvantaged; such businesses value their products far more than the excessive market monoliths so are inherently less wasteful.

The introduction of transparent annual mandatory food waste audits across all large food industries and the introduction of fiscally driven food waste reduction targets would see a huge and lasting reduction in food waste. The scheme will not be hard to implement at large scale, and would encourage business based on companies being able to demonstrate to the consumer that they are committed to environmental and social responsibility. Hilary Benn and the rest of them at DEFRA must push forward, taking EFRA's recommendation seriously. " We recommend that Defra requires food retailers and manufacturers to report the tonnages of food waste from their businesses at least on an annual basis. Defra should also work with the food industry to ensure that retailers give suppliers sufficient flexibility to be able to minimize wastage, including disseminating examples of industry best practice. "

TiR is campaigning solely on demanding a transparent food waste auditing policy across all main food industries, and the subsequent introduction of mandatory food waste reduction targets. We would like to see Tristram Stuarts 50% food waste reduction over the next 5 years, measured from a 2011 baseline (when the annual food waste audits should be introduced).

Such resource squanderance is not an isolated problem; it indicates how market superpowers devalue primary resources such as food, which is dependent on natural resources such as land, soil, water and soil fertility. It is not acceptable to throw away inherently valuable resources; food, soil and water. The resources that sustain food production and food itself are not commodities but vital resources that should be valued outsides the framework of money; the environment and the food that the natural world provides is to be conserved and maintained in a sustainable and respectful way. If the government doesn't act to reduce the levels of food waste arising within our supply chain, they are also disregarding the safeguarding of the environment and complex and irreplaceable ecosystems by not regulating rapacious and reckless capitalist markets.

TiR will carry on following Hilary Benn and his associates, continuing to ask just why they are so hesitant to introduce food waste quantification and reduction policies.

Films
King Corn (2007)
The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil (2006)
Our Daily Bread (2006)
Super Size Me (2004)
Food, Inc. (2009)
End of the line (2009)
Slaughterhouse; the task of blood (2008)

Waking up early on Wednesday and going through the agenda, we weren't sure of how the conference really related to This is Rubbish's campaign objectives, as there was no specific mention of food waste. The focus was on reducing waste and maximising the efficient use of resources in general. The agenda looked broad and potentially too business- focused for our campaign to really be relevant in the context. We decided to go anyway and get our first taste of a corporate, political and expert waste reduction discussion.

Cycling through the sleet to the Swalec Stadium in Cardiff, we arrived somewhat disheveled. Walking past the large window of the lower foyer, we realised that we were dressed like practical cyclists and completely out of keeping with the style of our fellow attendees. This was a suited and booted affair, and we were dressed in bright yellow waterproofs, cherry print shoes and practical mountain gear. I considered if it was time for This is Rubbish to get some smart outing suits sorted.

We found our seats, necked some coffee and got our notebooks out. The conference was opened by Dr Liz Goodwin, CEO of WRAP, who set the tone for the day's proceedings. This was about the environment, but firstly it was about business. We were a pair of campaigners encouraging political advocacy in a room full of entrepreneurs. Welsh businesses could save up to £318 million a year by using resources more efficiently. Furthermore, resource efficiency could also prove to be a ‘secret weapon’ against climate change as it allows immediate action to meet pressing and challenging targets. As I looked around the pinstripe Blue sea, I wondered how many people were thinking of the environmental damage caused by food waste and how many were thinking of turning abundant food waste into money in the form of biogas. Goodwin's focus was on reducing the amount of valuable resources that go to waste by supporting businesses and individuals to "reap the benefits of waste". Every year, the UK consumes 680 million tonnes of materials, 50% of which ends up as waste. That really is unsustainable use of resources. WRAP's focus is to reduce the amount of stuff that is used in the first place, and turn the remaining waste into resources. I considered how they were planning to identify where food waste arises in our complex global food supply chain and reduce it wherever possible at the source. As Goodwin states, WRAP are committed to the Low Carbon Transition Plan, which requires an 18% cut in emissions from 2008 levels, by 2020, but methods of achieving this through waste reduction and resource efficiency were wrapped up in distracting financial incentives, and punctuated with business jargon.

Jane Davidson, Minister for the Environment, Sustainability & Housing gave the second speech, and she drew attention to the urgency of climate change, environmental degradation and resource depletion; giving the conference a clear sustainability slant. She very clearly located the problem of waste in the context of climate change, and drew attention to the amount of energy, fossil fuels and pollution that waste embodies. Continuing to declare that waste must become obsolete, she justified this statement by drawing attention to the fact that population is increasing while the planet’s natural resources are depleting. It was deeply satisfying to hear the WAG Environment minister orating the disregard that businesses and society had shown for environmental limits, and that many in the rich West have lost sight of wider consequences of our actions.

As Davidson demonstrated a commitment to abolish all waste and improve the management of all resources, I thought that she was the best person to ask a question or two about food waste reduction methods. At the end of her speech, she asked the floor for their questions. I introduced This is Rubbish, continuing to describe the Feeding the 5000 event. I went on to ask how likely a WAG and Westminster policy change would be, that would regulate all sectors of the food industry, demanding transparent, independently commissioned annual food waste audits and implementing obligatory annual food waste reduction targets. I also asked if such policy changes were something that WAG were developing, and if so what is the delivery date for such policy changes. Davidson firstly congratulated This is Rubbish for raising wide public awareness to the problem of food waste. That's nice. She went onto explain that WAG didn't have the political power to implement such national food industry regulations, and that Westminster were looking into reducing the problem of food waste within the food industry. So WAG can't lead the way on national policy, and doesn't have the power to regulate the Welsh food industry. Is this because the mammoth supermarkets are too powerful for WAG to regulate? This is Rubbish got a congratulatory mention from Jane Davidson, but what would be better is Welsh political leadership, implementing food waste reduction legislation, applicable to all sectors of the food industry. Such a move would surely be a positive contribution towards achieving the Welsh carbon reduction commitment; reducing C02 emissions by 3% pa from 2011.

As the conference went on there was a wide range of industries and waste topics mentioned. My ears pricked up whenever food was mentioned, and this happened frequently when we got onto the subject of anaerobic digesters. WAG has a Materials Action Program (MAP) that was launched in January 2008. The MAP Anaerobic Digestion Capital Support Program can provide up to 30% towards the capital costs of an AD facility. The investment can be used to fund plant and equipment (fixed or mobile) and related infrastructure. There is no limit on the size of scheme proposed, but the project must be able to prove that it is a long-term commercially viable project. In 2009, a further £26 million of new funding was announced by The Assembly Government; funding further anaerobic digestion schemes in Wales. WAG and WRAP are very keen to encourage the implementation of AD technologies in Wales, however, AD plants require a constant feedstock of organic matter; much of it potentially food waste. The primary food waste reduction measure to be taken and promoted is preventing the occurrence of food waste in the first place. The amount of energy recouped from turning food into bio energy is nominal. For example, putting a tone of tomatoes through AD would recoup less than 0.75% of the emissions released when producing the crop in the first place. The dichotomy is clear;: concentrating on solving the problem of food waste by sending it to AD plants to generate biogas and renewable energy necessitates food waste to be constantly arising. AD has its place, but is not a solution to be widely promoted before the food industry is made to meet ambitious annual waste reduction targets.

The second exciting thing to happen was when TiR got another question in, this time for the closing question. Liz Goodwin was up on the podium again, and I decided to fire a Q to her. My question to CEO of WRAP was, "What is WRAP doing to quantify and report on where food waste is occurring in the entire UK food supply chain?" Her answer was that DEFRA are currently working on a food product waste map, and that this is research in process, giving indicators of where most food waste arises. There wasn't time for much more detail, so I went to catch her at the end of the conference to ask her in to elaborate on this 'mapping' project. She gave me her card and said she was happy to answer emails. I'm now waiting for a reply from Richard Swannell, the WRAP director of design and waste minimisation who runs the project to get back to me......

All in all, an eye-opening event for TiR, with relevant questions asked and promising links made. Lovely.

Please see below for all the press coverage that the event received. What a success!

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Independent – news story 30th November

Observer (review) - interview with Tristram – Sunday 13th (attached)

Daily Mail – full page piece by Tristram –14th Dec (attached)

Evening Standard – news story – Tuesday 15th

Times – full page comment piece – Tues 15th (attached)

Press Association – news story Tues 15th

Times – Universal Daily Register – Wed 16th (attached)

Evening Standard – piece by Rosie Boycott – Wed 16th (attached)

Metro – news and photo story – Thurs 17th (attached)

Guardian – leader – Thurs 17th (attached)

FT- Lunch with the FT – taking place today at Wahaca – 26th December

ONLINE:

BBC News – news story - wed 16th

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/8415118.stm

Guardian – video – Wed 16th Dec

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/dec/16/food-waste-campaign-trafalgar-square

Guardian podcast with Tristram and Tommi – Thursday 17th
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/audio/2009/dec/17/guardian-daily-podcast

Independent – Wed 16th

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/free-lunches-handed-out-to-highlight-food-waste-1842653.html

New Statesman –Wed 16th

http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-staggers/2009/12/food-waste-global-problem

Ecologist – interview with Tristram – date tbc

Hundreds of mentions of the event (build-up and after) on food/social/environment/NGO blogs and websites as well as 'what’s on' sites.

BROADCAST COVERAGE – From the Square

TV

BBC1 - BBC Breakfast at 6.50am, 7.50am and 8.50am – Wed 16th

BBC London TV – piece on lunchtime bulletin (using footage from BBC Breakfast) - Wed 16th

ITN multimedia – interview with Tristram - Thursday 17th
http://itn.co.uk/tags/book.html
- Show quoted text -
Il Sole 24ore
[Other Italian press TBC by LMM]

Metro International Newspapers - multi-language editions went out today (thurs 17th)

BBC Persia - interviewed Tristram

Also freelance photographers from Norwegian and Russian outlets

Swedish radio