Food for thought this festive period
29 December 2025
The festive season sees more celebrations and more food on our tables, which also means more food going to waste. Here are some tips and tricks for managing and reducing your food waste, because taking control of our waste disposal is everyone’s responsibility.
The City’s Urban Waste Management Directorate oversees and manages a number of food waste
minimisation programmes, including the
rollout of compost containers, several community-based food waste initiatives, etc. This is an important part of the directorate’s waste reduction strategy for many reasons.
Why is reducing food/organic waste important?
- Provincial Government has banned organic waste from landfills, therefore we need you in order for the City to be compliant with this directive.
- Food/organic waste decomposes in landfills and creates harmful greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. To preserve our planet we need to reduce the amounts of greenhouse gases we produce and emit.
- It is contributing to depleting landfill space, which will eventually result in the need for a new landfill site.
- Composting can reduce the amount of space used in your household bins and space used at landfills.
- Less food in the bin means fewer rodents and pests.
- Besides, this waste can be used to make compost for plant growth.
This year, the City distributed compost bins to more than 10 communities to encourage residents to use their food scraps and spoilt food more responsibly, and has seen a positive uptake in the programme from residents. Fortunately, this is not the only way to reduce food waste.
Tips to reduce food waste- Plan your menus around the number of guests you will expect and only buy enough ingredients for the planned meals.
- Don’t buy fruit and vegetables too far in advance, so that they don’t spoil in the fridge.
- Consider your food storage to extend the lifespan of your fruit and vegetables.
- Only dish what you can eat. Leftovers on plates often aren’t revisited and aren’t repurposed, creating unnecessary food waste.
- Transform leftovers and surplus ingredients into new dishes is a great way to minimise food waste.
‘It’s easy to lose sight of the bigger picture and feel that our individual, household efforts can’t make a change. But it is in the home where change begins.
‘Everyone celebrating and partaking in joyous occasions this festive season is encouraged to be mindful of the way they consume and dispose of food and help reduce the organic waste to our landfills for the benefit of the entire city,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Urban Waste Management, Alderman Grant Twigg.
Caption: Don’t let food waste go to waste.
Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office
