Strictly embargoed until 14th May 2019
New campaign encourages East Anglian workers to rethink their ‘lunch on the go’ habits to reduce food and packaging waste #FoodSavvy trial with local businesses helped workers reduce single use plastics by 54% With the average East Anglian worker spending £388 eating ‘lunch on the go’ and using 276 items of lunch packaging annually,i a campaign launches today that aims to create a new culture of meal planning and reusable lunch packaging, to reduce food and packaging waste. The #FoodSavvy Lunch Club, a collaboration between Norfolk and Suffolk Councils and environmental charity Hubbub, was trialled successfully in March 2019 with regional businesses Aviva, AXA, BT and the Environment Agency. It challenged a total of 50 employees to go for a month without using single-use packaging at lunch time. Trial results were encouraging – of the 50 employees taking part, 83% said the #FoodSavvyLunch Club helped them reduce their single use plastics, with participants on average reducing their usage by 54%. Food waste was reduced by approximately 52% per participant and 67% said the trial had helped them to save money.ii Supported by #FoodSavvy, participants were given a #FoodSavvy Savings Guide which provided them with the golden rules for reducing packaging and food waste. They also followed a three-week meal plan packed with simple, healthy, sustainable meals and were challenged to make their own meals for the trial’s final week. Challenge participants, the Axa canteen and local eateries also took part in a pilot Bring Your Own (BYO) Tupperware scheme, ‘Take Away, Give Back’ where customers received a small incentive for bringing their own packagingiii. Following the trial’s success, the campaign is now encouraging the rest of East Anglia to get involved and rethink their own lunch habits by visiting www.foodsavvy.org.uk to take a quiz and find tips on how to plan their lunch meals to save time, packaging and money. Hubbub is also now inviting other businesses and employees to take part by registering their interest via campaigns@hubbub.org.uk. Cafes, canteens and local businesses can get in touch to join Take Away, Give Back and receive artwork and resources to support customers to bring their own containers. Trewin Restorick, CEO of Hubbub said: “’Lunch-on-the-go' items create huge levels of waste and unfortunately much of it isn’t recyclable as it’s made from mixed materials or is contaminated with food residue. By planning lunches in advance and using up items in your fridge you can massively reduce the amount of packaging you use while saving money by cutting down on food waste. If you do buy lunch on the go, don’t be shy – take along your own container to your favourite lunch spot.