It was reported that Canberrans have the distinction of the Australians most wasteful of food.

The Territory Government is trying to implement a No Waste Strategy. But a November 2007 kerbside rubbish audit showed the proportion of food and compostables in each household’s weekly garbage to be almost half-49% by weight, up from 42% in 2004. (This relates to the garbage. Recyclables—paper, glass, metal—are counted separately.)

Homes were found to discard an average 4.2kg of food waste every week, up from 3.7kg in 2004. The territory generates more than two tonnes of waste per person a year, the highest rate in Australia. We throw away at least 20 per cent of the food that we buy, of which bread is the most common item discarded.

James and waste nothing or very little, I’m glad to say.

It seems to me that a big cause of waste is that over-busy two-income families shop in a hurry, buying things ‘just in case’. They then cook in haste and too-often eat in haste.

The federal Government’s pressure for even longer ’24/7′ working hours by Canberran public servants doesn’t help. When work hours are too long, there is more than one kind of rubbish produced.