BANISH THE 'BEST-BEFORE' DATE ??

South Wales WIN :Press release 

WalesOnline WalesOnline   Best before date could be scrapped in Wales, as 410,000 tonnes of food are thrown away every year: http://bit.ly/gXXa9D BANISH THE 'BEST-BEFORE' DATE ?? The call to banish the 'best before' date is misplaced, say South Wales WIN. People need proper information on what it means – that the food can and should still be consumed – but the main message on waste food should be to use the food-waste caddies and collection systems. Such systems are being introduced by Councils throughout Wales, allowing the waste to be processed by anaerobic digestors or composting technology. Waste Awareness Wales fails to encourage people to use the food waste collection systems because, we believe. they are working to WAG's pro-incineration agenda. They wrongly say [1] most food-waste will be thrown in a landfill site, as modern regulations require pre-treatment of waste. Some methane gas results, but regulations require its capture. Official figures show methane emissions are now a relatively small problem [2]. Waste Awareness Wales is supporting alternative incineration of residual household waste. Yet food waste is wet and results in little energy, unlike anaerobic digestion that produces gas which is best cleaned and fed into the gas mains. WAG's waste policy ignores this best option, despite it being advocated by the National Grid. Waste Awareness Wales is a propaganda outfit, funded entirely by WAG to support their policy to defer high recycling/composting till the 2020s with a limit of 70%, and subsidise incineration of up to 35% of the domestic waste stream. Their exaggeration of landfill methane serves this agenda and should be challenged. ------------------------ NOTE [1] western mail 19 april 2011, Banish the 'best-before' date [2] Wales's total landfill methane counted as CO2-equivalent is 34 000t/yr, compared with CO2 emissions from Wales Waste sector total CO2e of 13 000 000 t/yr (2007 figs.**). Covanta's proposed incinerator of 750 000t waste/yr would on its own emit CO2 at 800-900 000t/yr. ** Greenhouse Gas Inventories for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland: 1990 - 2007 AEAT/ENV/R/2873 Issue 1 report Sept.2009to DECC, WAG etc.