The Love Food Hate Waste (LFHW) website was launched today, and initiatives are being run nationwide over the next couple of months.
In Taranaki, the top five foods being wasted are bread, apples, leftovers, bananas and oranges/mandarins and Taranaki waste minimisation officer Nadine Ord-Walton says the most significant proportion of food waste takes place in the home.
The LFHW campaign is being promoted in Taranaki by the Taranaki Regional Council along with the Stratford, New Plymouth and South Taranaki district councils with a range if initiatives and displays around the region.
Stratford library will host a display on the campaign and displays will also be on show in the Hawera, Inglewood, Bell Block, Waitara, Waverley, Opunake, Patea, Manaia, Kaponga and Eltham libraries.
A LFHW stall at the Seaside Market at Ngamotu Beach on June 5 from 10am to 3pm will feature Olena Williams, who runs cooking courses, giving a cooking demonstration from about 11am to 1pm using leftover foods.
There will be giveaways and food samples.
Taranaki King-Country MP Barbara Kuriger did a 10-day challenge keeping a diary documenting what food she threw away.
She extended the challenge to cover the entire month of May in the hope it would become a habit. She says she has realised the trick is in "only buying what I need".
Find out more - visit the website www.lovefoodhatewaste.co.nz