‘This is Rubbish’ Educational Activities for ‘Waste Less, Live More’

This is Rubbish (TiR) is a community-based organisation formed in 2009 by volunteers that aims to communicate the preventable scale of food wasted in the UK, through policy research, community and arts led public events. TiR launched at Feeding the 5000 in 2009, a mass public food waste feast in Trafalgar Square. The event was produced in collaboration with Action Aid; FareShare; Save the Children and expert food waste author, Tristram Stuart. On that day This is Rubbish served 1000 litres of fruit ‘waste’ smoothies, pressed by pedal power and made from fruit that would have otherwise ended up in landfill. The campaign also gained extensive media coverage and 2000 signatories in a letter of support. The organisation now has an extensive portfolio of successful events through England and Wales.

In September 2013 This is Rubbish was awarded funding from The David Tyler Trust for our participation in and educational workshops linked to the Waste Less, Live More week. The funded activities started with a presentation by This is Rubbish at the Better Food For All conference that was a major part of Waste Less, LiveMore week. The talk was in the session entitled 'Communities –How do we as a nation move towards eating better whilst reducing waste?' focused on the creative and participatory methods Thisis Rubbish uses to engage people in the subject of large scale industry food waste. The conference was attended by approximately 150 people and was a very good opportunity to promote our further events to people actively involved in reducing food waste and informal, issue based education.