What would happen if everyone went vegan?
What would happen if we all adopted a plant-based diet? It’s a hypothetical question, but environmental writer Paul Allen argues it's more relevant now than ever before.
The idea of everyone adopting a vegan diet might sound extreme, but in the last few years, the number of Britons following a plant-based diet has risen significantly. There are at least 600,000 vegans in the UK — some sources put this figure nearer 2.7 million — and although the number of meat alternatives in our supermarkets has reduced over the last year, nearly 40 per cent of meat-eaters say they have reduced the amount of meat they consume. The growing interest in vegetarian and vegan diets is all around us - from the explosion of dairy-free ‘milk’ in supermarkets to vegan options on menus and even entirely vegan restaurants. What was once a niche lifestyle choice has become mainstream. For scientists, policymakers and economists, the idea of a vegan future is especially interesting and one of the biggest drivers is, of course, the environment. Interested in veganism? To get you started, check out our top vegan recipes, including easy vegan dishes, vegan family recipes and vegan desserts. How does food affect greenhouse gases? Your fridge is essential in the fight against global warming. In fact, food is responsible for a third of all manmade greenhouse gas emissions. What’s more, meat and dairy make up nearly 60 per cent of that carbon footprint. The UN says that global farmed livestock accounts for roughly 11 per cent of all manmade greenhouse gas emissions (with methane from cows a surprisingly big culprit). But according to new research published in the journal Climate, if we all went vegan, the world’s food-related CO2 emissions could drop by 68 per cent within 15 years. Although this is a hypothetical discussion, it would provide the cut in emissions needed to limit global warming to 2º, but such a crop-based approach to agriculture may compromise water and land resources, as well as impact biodiversity. However, going vegan is not the only way to reduce food-related greenhouse gasses. Regenerative farming improves soil health on a farm by diversifying the types of crops grown and integrating them with animals. For example, a farmer could graze cows or sheep on a field for one year, making use of their natural fertiliser while also giving the soil a rest. The Soil Association says healthy soil can capture and store more carbon than degraded soil; around two tonnes more carbon in every football-pitch-sized patch of farmland. The idea is gaining popularity – in 2021, the UK government announced plans to subsidise farmers up to £70 per hectare if they adopt regenerative agriculture techniques. So, going vegan may be better for the planet but there are other ways to tackle carbon emissions and global warming that don’t mean cutting out meat and dairy. Is a vegan diet healthier? We know Western diets are linked to many health problems including heart disease, diabetes and obesity. In 2015, the World Health Organisation categorised processed meat such as bacon as carcinogenic, along with asbestos, alcohol and arsenic. If these are a frequent part of your diet, switching to more plant-based meals may be better for you as well as the planet. An increasing amount of evidence shows the health benefits of eating more plant-focused foods, such as a reduced risk of heart disease, fewer cases of type 2 diabetes and a lower risk of some cancers. A 2018 study by University of Oxford even concluded that switching to a plant-based diet could save up to eight million lives worldwide. However, being vegan doesn’t necessarily mean you’re eating healthily. Some vegan products contain a lot of coconut oil, which is high in saturated fat. The rise in vegan junk food, like burgers, fake fish and chips or sausage rolls, could also be fooling you into believing these foods are healthy. In fact, many are high in calories, lacking in essential nutrients and packed with salt and sugar. Vegan diets may also miss out on vital vitamins and minerals, as they’re naturally low in calcium, vitamin D, iron, vitamin B12, zinc and omega-3 fatty acids. If you are vegan, it’s important to eat plenty of plant protein from beans, lentils, chickpeas, tofu, and soya versions of milk and yogurt. Peanuts are a useful vegan source of protein, while other nuts and seeds can provide minerals such as zinc and selenium – cashews, pistachios, flaxseeds, chia or pumpkin seeds are particularly valuable. Quinoa and buckwheat are often called pseudo-grains but are in fact seeds; quinoa is especially useful for vegans because it contains all of the nine essential amino acids that we need for growth and repair. It’s easy to follow a balanced diet as a vegan but you need to be aware of what – and how much – you’re eating: good advice for omnivores and herbivores alike. Can going vegan reduce food shortages? Would a vegan future make food poverty history? If it’s about freeing up space and resources for growing food, there is some evidence to back this. A meat-eater’s diet requires 17 times more land, 14 times more water and 10 times more energy than a vegetarian’s, according to research published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. This is principally because we use a large proportion of the world’s land for growing crops to feed livestock instead of humans. Of the world’s approximately five billion hectares of agricultural land, 77 per cent is used for livestock. This squeeze on resources is only set to intensify. In 50 years, the UN predicts there will be 10.5 billion people on the planet (the current world population is around 8 billion). To feed us all, we need to grow food more sustainably. One of the counterarguments against this solution is that some grazing land isn’t suitable for growing crops. That’s certainly true, but there’s actually a bigger problem with eradicating world hunger. Right now, we already produce enough calories to comfortably feed everyone on the planet, but more than 820 million people may still not get enough food. In other words, having enough to eat is as much about politics and big business as it is about dietary choices, so there’s nothing to say that hunger would be a thing of the past in a vegan world. Where would all the animals go? If we no longer bred farm animals, what would happen? Would they become extinct? Would they overrun the planet? Billions of farm animals would no longer be destined for our dinner plates and if we couldn’t return them to the wild, they might be slaughtered, abandoned or taken into sanctuaries. Or, more realistically, farmers might slow down breeding as demand for meat falls. Farm animals are bred far more intensively than they reproduce in the wild. As with all wildlife, any returned animal populations would fluctuate and eventually reach a balance, depending on predators and available resources. It’s worth noting that not all livestock could simply ‘go free’. Some farm breeds, such as broiler chickens, are now so far removed from their ancestors that they couldn’t survive in the wild. Others, like pigs and sheep, could feasibly return to woodlands and grazing pastures, and find their own natural population levels. On top of that, even if we stopped eating animals, our ongoing destruction of wild habitats would still reduce their numbers. As always with nature, it’s a question of balance. Liked this? Browse more guides on the environment Is a vegan diet better for the environment? What is the planetary health diet? Is a vegan diet healthy for kids? What is a GMO diet? How to switch to a vegan diet This article was reviewed on 20 May 2024 by Kerry Torrens. Paul Allen is author of The Ethical Careers Guide and founder of creative agency Lark. 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The tidal wave of plastic waste is slowly turning, but there are still some key pieces of food packaging we should steer clear of
First, some good news: the amount of plastic food packaging in the UK is falling; it was down three per cent between 2019 and 2022. Even better, figures from WRAP – the climate action group – show we recycled 55 per cent of all plastic packaging in 2022, compared with 44 per cent in 2018. The food manufacturing industry has made significant changes to the plastics they use, too. For example, there has been a 96 per cent reduction in the amount of non-recyclable black plastic available. When was the last time you saw a black plastic food tray down the ready-meal aisle? A new type of black plastic that can be detected by sorting lasers – so it can be recycled more easily – is also in use. In fact, 71 per cent of all plastic packaging is now recyclable. But there’s still a lot more we can do to reduce the amount of food packaging we use. Here are five kinds of food packaging to avoid that can make a big difference to the environment. 1. Plastic bottles Plastic bottles are one of the biggest polluters on the planet. Around the world, one million are sold every minute and most of them are single-use plastics, made using fossil fuels. Plastic bottles are also said to be the second most common type of plastic waste in our oceans. Although drinks manufacturers have made efforts to reduce plastic waste, such as fixing caps to bottles so they can be recycled together, nearly 80 per cent of all plastic packaging produced worldwide still ends up in landfill or lost in the environment, where it degrades into microplastics. Microplastics have been found on every part of the planet, from Antarctic Sea ice to the soil on our farms. They’ve been discovered in fruits and vegetables, and in the fish and animals we eat – it’s thought that we consume around one credit card every week. Ditching plastic bottles and investing in a reusable drinks bottle really is one of the most effective ways to protect the planet – and your wellbeing. 2. Fresh fruit and vegetable packaging Individually wrapping fruit and veg appears to be less common than a few years ago, but some items are still packaged in plastic. Bags of potatoes, trays of apples and broccoli heads wrapped in plastic can all be found on supermarket shelves. This creates two problems: food and plastic waste. Research by WRAP found we throw away £2.1bn of fresh fruit and veggies every year; food waste is one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gases. One reason is because we buy more than we need, thanks to all those plastic packets, so we end up binning the surplus. WRAP says buying five of the most commonly wasted products – apples, bananas, broccoli, cucumbers and potatoes – loose could prevent 100,000 tonnes of food waste every year and remove 10,300 tonnes of plastic packaging. Together, that’s a saving of 130,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide. So, remember to take reusable bags with you when shopping for fresh fruit and veg, and check if your supermarket has signed up to the UK Plastics Act. 3. Foil food pouches A few years ago, food and drink pouches were one of the toughest plastic packaging items to recycle. Layers of super-thin aluminium and different plastics needed to be carefully separated before they could be recycled individually, and very few local councils had the technology to do so. Which meant billions ended up in landfill every year. But there are a number of schemes now in place that will collect and recycle your food pouches. TerraCycle runs public drop-off points across the UK or you can sign up for their at-home zero-waste box programme. Pets at Home will also take your (clean) pet food pouches. Most major supermarkets now recycle food and drink pouches, along with old plastic shopping bags, crisp packets and bread bags; find out more at Recycle Now. You can also buy products that come in ‘green’ food pouches but, as ever, it’s worth checking the small print. Some new pouches may be described as biodegradable, but it could still take decades for them to break down. Other pouches might say they’re compostable – thanks to PLA, a new type of bioplastic made from plant materials – but this cannot be put in your home compost bin, and many local councils don’t yet have the technology to deal with PLA en-mass. If you can’t avoid buying food and drink pouches completely, think about how and where you can recycle them before you do. 4. Coffee pods and capsules Coffee pods are known to be a huge environmental hazard; research shows 350,000 end up in landfill every year where they can take 500 years to break down. You can now recycle Lavazza pods with TerraCycle or join Podback, which collects capsules from brands including Nespresso, L’Or and Tassimo. However, in 2022 Nespresso admitted only 32 per cent of its pods are recycled and some experts believe the global recycling rate for coffee capsules is only five per cent. So what can you do? Compostable pods are now available but – similar to foil food pouches – check if they can be composted at home and/or locally. You could cut out capsules altogether, avoiding both the need to recycle them and stop aluminium from being mined to produce them in the first place. Stick to takeaway coffees for your caffeine fix – just don’t forget your reusable cup. 5. Glass jars and bottles This might sound counterintuitive – glass is one of the most widely recycled materials on the planet and can be infinitely recycled – but there are still problems with using glass bottles and jars for food packaging. One major issue is transportation costs. Glass is heavier than plastic, so transporting huge numbers of glass containers takes more fuel, which creates more carbon emissions. Creating new glass bottles and jars also has an environmental cost. Glass is made from silica sand, but mining it has reportedly led to land deterioration and loss of biodiversity. Using silica may also be contributing to the global sand shortage. And don’t forget the higher temperatures needed to melt glass – and the fuel needed to do so – for both new and recycled glass. One solution is to reuse your glass containers rather than recycle them. This cuts down the emissions produced during recycling and prevents you from buying new ones. If you do have to buy them, find out if they contain any recycled glass (100 per cent is best) and stick to that brand. You can also follow these tips for more ways to become a better recycler. But the best tip of all is to consider the impact these five types of food packaging can have on the environment before writing out your shopping list. More on packaging 10 ways to trash the plastic 10 tips for reducing your plastic waste Reduce, reuse and recycle your plastic packaging How to reduce food packaging waste Recycling symbols explained Paul Allen is a former BBC environmental editor and a director at Lark. Find him on X @larkingly This article was updated on 8 March 2024.
Could knowing where your food comes from help you to shop more sustainably? Find why food miles are just one part of the puzzle when it comes to fighting climate change
How far has your food travelled to get to your plate? That journey – the distance between where something is produced to where it’s eaten – is what we mean when we talk about ‘food miles’. For example, home-grown herbs or local farmers’ market veggies won’t clock up many food miles. But if you can’t resist fresh strawberries on your morning yogurt in December, it means they’ve probably taken a much longer trip. Are food miles bad for the environment? If you’re regularly eating high-value, perishable products – like out-of-season berries – they’ve likely travelled a long way to reach the UK. But it’s important to look at how they were transported, not just how far. If they were air-freighted, they’ll have a higher carbon footprint due to the environmental impact of planes. But if they arrived by boat, their footprint will be a lot lower because sailing has a much smaller carbon impact than flying. Flying in food generates roughly 47 times more greenhouse gases than using cargo ships. Figures show aeroplanes produce 500g of CO2 per metric tonne of freight per kilometre of travel, while ships only produce 10-40g per km. Even if two ingredients travel the same distance – and so have the same food miles – the air-freighted goods will have a much greater environmental impact. Does transport inside the UK count? Fortunately, most of the food we eat travels by boat rather than plane – globally, only 0.16 per cent of food miles are from air travel. And in 2022, just 7 per cent of the UK’s emissions were from air-freighted goods. A bigger issue may be what happens to imported food once it gets to the UK. According to government data, transporting food within and around the country produces 109 million tonnes of CO2e annually: that’s 26 per cent of our total greenhouse gas emissions. Plus, there’s the distance we travel ourselves to buy food. If you regularly drive to large, out-of-town supermarkets, those miles – and carbon emissions – soon add up. In fact, passenger cars are currently the UK’s largest source of transport emissions. More than miles So far, transporting food doesn’t sound that great for the planet. But there are lots of other factors that can affect an ingredient’s carbon footprint. Take tomatoes, for instance. UK tomatoes grown in heated greenhouses in winter have a higher carbon footprint than tomatoes imported from warmer countries, like Spain. Even when you add in the food miles, buying tomatoes from abroad is still better for the planet (although buying UK tomatoes while in season is best of all). Remember, the biggest portion of any food’s carbon footprint comes from its production, not transport. Beef, for example, has the greatest impact on the planet due to all the resources that go into producing it, such as land, water and animal feed, plus all the methane emissions from the cows themselves. Which means locally produced beef doesn’t have a much lower carbon footprint than beef flown in from Argentina, say, despite having significantly fewer food miles. Perhaps it’s no surprise, then, that some experts are questioning the importance of food miles and wonder if the term is more of a distraction than anything else. ‘The food mile message is a little more nuanced than it’s sometimes presented,’ says Professor David Reay, a climate scientist from the University of Edinburgh. ‘When you look at the life cycle of food stuffs, food miles are not a major part. It’s how they were produced… that really matters.’ So, what can I do? Unless you’ve got an allotment or are buying direct from local producers at a farmer’s market, it’s almost impossible to know how far your food has travelled. But seeing as food miles are only one part of the puzzle, perhaps this is no bad thing. It would be far more useful to have a label that shows a product’s total carbon footprint, and – after years of false starts – this is now a reality. Similar to the nutrition labels on food packaging, a carbon footprint label shows us the total emissions generated by a product, from beginning to end. The Carbon Trust has verified more than 27,000 products worldwide, including many different foods. You can now find their carbon footprint label (which is a literal footprint) on foods from Quorn, Yeo Valley, Danone, and many more. Other brands use their own carbon footprint labelling scheme; there’s currently no standardised carbon label in use in the UK. This can make it even tougher to work out which ingredients are best for the planet, but this environmental impact calculator (launched by the BBC in 2019) can help. Until an industry-wide carbon footprint label is introduced, can we do anything right now? Shopping local vs shopping global If you want to shop locally, one extreme option is to stop eating anything we can’t rear or grow on our own shores. But it’s worth noting that – if we stopped importing food altogether – we’d take away a valuable source of income from communities all over the world. In sub-Saharan Africa alone, around 1.5 million people depend on exporting food to the UK. Records show that 40 per cent of all our air-freighted fresh fruit and vegetable imports are from this region. But ending this relationship would only reduce UK total greenhouse gas emissions by less than 0.1 per cent – not much of a trade-off in the long run. You can cut down on eating certain foods, such as meat and dairy, and avoid goods that are more likely to have been flown in. These are often fruits and vegetables that need to be eaten soon after harvesting: asparagus, green beans, berries and cherries are common culprits. Professor Reay says that one of the best things to do is buy locally produced food, but food that’s also in season; sunlight is an incredibly efficient use of resources. It also saves you having to do numerous carbon calculations during the weekly shop. It will take time to move towards a more sustainable global food system, but focusing on food miles alone isn’t the answer. Following a local, seasonal and plant-based diet can have a much greater impact on the planet than simply checking out the air miles on your avocado. More on sustainability 10 ways to eat out sustainably How to reduce food waste Is a vegan diet better for the environment? How to compost food at home Sustainability hub page Paul Allen is a former BBC environmental editor and a director at Lark. Find him on X @larkingly This article was updated on 8 March 2024.
15 ways to cut your food carbon footprint
The UK’s total carbon footprint is going down, but making subtle tweaks to the way you shop, cook and eat – using the tips below – can help reduce your individual CO2 impact.
The latest figures show the UK’s carbon emissions are falling, down 49% since 1990. This is largely thanks to a drop in the country’s coal and gas use, but individually, we still have an annual carbon footprint of 5.2 tonnes of CO2. Fortunately, saving the world isn’t just a job for superheroes or Swedish climate activists. Making several small changes to what and how you eat – from reducing food waste to updating your freezer – can cut your food carbon footprint and help reduce the total impact of CO2 on our planet. 1. Don’t overfill your kettle Fancy a cuppa? Only put as much water in your kettle as you need. The Energy Saving Trust says this tip could save water, fuel and £11 a year on your electricity bill! Add an aerator to your tap – a little widget that reduces the amount of water coming out – to save a further £20. 2. Drink 'green' tea If you are having a brew, think about what’s going in the pot. Britons use around 165 million teabags a day, but a 2019 report found many are heat-sealed using a type of plastic. Bigger brands are slowly making changes, but why not use loose tea leaves? They’re plastic-free and can be composted, too. 3. Pick better coffee pods Making coffee at home does cut costs, but coffee pods are a huge environmental hazard. Globally, 29,000 end up in landfill every month, where they can take 500 years to break down. Go for compostable coffee pods instead – you still get your caffeine fix, but without compromising the planet. 4. Avoid plastic food packaging We know single-use plastics are harmful for the environment – they’re more likely to end up in our oceans than reusable options – and it takes a lot of fossil fuels to produce them. Tips to reduce your food packaging waste include using beeswax wraps rather than clingfilm, but it’s also good to know which types of plastic to avoid. 5. Stop eating meat... Switching to a vegetarian or vegan diet can save you 0.8 tonnes of CO2 a year. It may not sound like much, but going plant-based is one of the most effective ways to shrink your food carbon footprint. A 2023 study found a meat-eater’s diet produces around 10kg of greenhouse gasses every day, compared with just 2.5kg for a vegan diet; that’s a huge 75% reduction. In fact, avoiding meat and dairy is widely agreed to be the single biggest way to reduce your environmental impact on the planet. 6. ... or at least cut down If going totally vegan feels too tricky right now, reducing the amount of meat you eat is still a good move. Researchers from Oxford University say swapping just one red-meat meal for a plant-based dinner every week could cut the UK’s carbon footprint by 50 million tonnes. 7. Don't bin your dinner This one sounds obvious, but we throw away 6.6 million tonnes of food every year – and almost three-quarters of that is food we could’ve eaten. This food waste is equivalent to 36 million tonnes of CO2, so eating your leftovers can cut carbon and your food costs. Find some recipe inspiration. 8. Love your lumpy fruit and veg We also throw away over 50 million tonnes of ‘wonky’ fruit and vegetables every year in the UK and Europe, with an environmental impact equivalent to the emissions of almost 400,000 cars. You can now buy wonky veg boxes in most major supermarkets, or order one to your front door. Eat 'ugly' to help sustain a beautiful planet. 9. Consider your cooking methods Figures show that cooking is responsible for 13.8% of the electricity we use in our homes, so finding a more efficient way to cook = less CO2 produced. The Energy Saving Trust says a microwave may be your best bet; unlike a gas or electric oven, it only heats up your food and not the air space around it. 10. Invest in the best cookware Apart from how you cook your food, what are you cooking it in? Experts advise buying the best-quality pots and pans you can afford to stop them ending up in landfill in one or two years. Do your research and think about what you’re really going to use them for – do you need a one-egg frying pan? 11. Eat organic While the debate over whether organic produce is healthier for you continues, a number of studies do agree on one thing: organic fruit and veg contain less environmentally harmful chemicals than non-organic. The Soil Association says healthy soil is also able to store more carbon – if all UK farms went organic, at least 1.3 million tonnes of carbon could be taken up every year. 12. Rethink food miles We’re told not to buy fruit and veg with too many food miles, but the issue isn’t that clear-cut. Mike Berners-Lee, author of How Bad Are Bananas?, says bananas are actually okay because they’re imported by boat – their carbon footprint is just 480g of CO2 per kilo, despite the distance they travel. But, air-freighted produce, like out-of-season strawberries, have a much greater carbon footprint. So, try to find out how your food travelled from farm to fork. 13. Shop local – especially in season To cut your food carbon footprint even further, you’d think buying locally grown produce is the answer, but (again) it’s not that simple. Berners-Lee says tomatoes are fine when they’re in season in the UK, but during the winter, it’s better to buy them from warmer countries rather than local varieties grown in heated greenhouses – this uses a lot more CO2, despite the lower food miles. 14. Feel the freeze If you do pick or purchase a lot of seasonal fruit and veg, a freezer is your friend. Freezing food not only reduces food waste, but you can batch cook meals and freeze them, reducing the amount of gas or electricity needed to cook them individually. Just make sure your freezer is energy efficient – 16.8% of the electricity we use at home is for freezing or cooling or food. 15. Chest may be best A freezer should last about 10 years, or longer if you look after it. If you do need a new one – and you’ve got the space – a chest freezer could be the answer. They can store a huge amount of food and are more energy efficient than their upright equivalents – when you open the door of a standing freezer, cold air flows out, but when you open the lid of a chest freezer, it stays inside. More on sustainability What is a food carbon footprint? The facts about food miles 6 pieces of packaging to avoid 10 ways to eat out sustainably How to reduce food waste Is a vegan diet better for the environment? How to compost food at home Sustainability hub page Paul Allen is a former BBC environmental editor and a director at Lark. Find him on Twitter @larkingly.
Is a vegan diet better for the environment?
Environmental editor Paul Allen explores whether going vegan is best for the planet, and describes what he believes a sustainable diet might look like in the future.
Whether you think it’s a fad or food revolution, the popularity of veganism has skyrocketed. Figures are hard to come by, but in 2019, there were 600,000 vegans in the UK, which is a dizzying 300% increase since 2014. We have all the vegan recipe inspiration you need. Check out our top vegan recipes for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We also have vegan baking recipes, vegan pasta dishes, healthy vegan ideas. Why are more people cutting out meat, fish, dairy and eggs? For many, the environment is a big factor. This year, a record 700,000 people signed up for Veganuary, and the environment was one of the top three reasons for taking part. But, what impact can you have in just four weeks? The charity behind Veganuary says that the 350,000 people who gave up animal products in 2020’s event could have saved the equivalent of taking 160,000 cars off the road in greenhouse gas emissions, or cutting 400,000-500,000 single flights from London to Berlin. So, imagine the benefits if everyone went vegan. How is a vegan diet better for the planet? One answer is the huge environmental cost of industrialised animal farming. Today, the UN says meat and dairy (farmed livestock) accounts for 11.2% of manmade greenhouse gas emissions. But, if we all went vegan, scientists believe the world’s food-related emissions might drop by 68% within 15 years, limiting global warming. Sound good? Well, it is. But, as always, the devil’s in the detail. Just as it’s possible to be vegan and still eat unhealthily, there are some vegan foods that aren’t great for the planet, either. For more tips on how to eat a balanced vegan diet, read our nutritionist guide or check the NHS website. If you’re vegan (or thinking about making the switch) learn how to keep your carbon footprint as light as possible. Are plant-based milks bad for the environment? Did you know it takes 74 litres of water to make a single glass of almond milk? That’s more than a typical shower. Rice milk is also quite ‘thirsty’, requiring 54 litres of water per glass. These numbers are still low compared to dairy milk, but they’re far higher than soya or oat milks. Plant-based milk alternatives are also not a nutritionally comparable swap, although some consumers believe them to be. The following table shows how alternative milks compare when it comes to carbon emissions, land use and water use: Are avocados bad for the environment? Whether you prefer them smashed on toast or folded into a wrap, avocados have been said to be another water-hungry crop. It’s tricky to pin an exact ‘water footprint’ on the little green fruit, but some sources suggest it takes 227 litres (60 gallons) of water to grow a single avocado, while others put it at 824 litres (183 gallons) per kilogram. That said, these figures don’t take into account advances in cooling and irrigation methods implemented by avocado growers, which appear to have led to reductions in the amount of water used per hectare. If you want to buy avocados sustainably, one option is to choose those certified by a scheme such as Fairtrade or Equal Exchange. And, if you want to benefit from the nutritional benefits of avocados, such as B vitamins, healthy fats and vitamin E, there are food alternatives. As food journalist Joanna Blythman explains: "If you’re buying [an avocado] for vitamin E, sunflower seeds are a richer source. If you’re hunting down vitamin K, you’ll find heaps in broccoli and cabbage. For monounsaturated fats, turn your attention to extra virgin olive oil or olives. To pack in the folate/vitamin B9, go for lentils and cauliflower." However, what you won’t replace is avocado’s unique unsaturated fat and water-based matrix, which makes its fat-soluble nutrients, including carotenoids, much easier for us to absorb from both it and the plant foods we enjoy the avocado with. Is soya bad for the environment? Packed with vitamins, soya beans are also incredibly versatile. You’ll find them in tofu, flour, meat-free burgers, veggie sausages and much more. So far, so great for vegans. But, according to the WWF, soy is the second-largest agricultural driver of deforestation worldwide after beef: "From the US to the Amazon, forests, grasslands and wetlands are being ploughed up to make room for more soy production." This has led to a persistent myth that eating soy is worse for the planet than eating beef. In fact, only 6% of soy is grown for human consumption in products such as soy milk, tofu and edamame, while roughly 81% is grown to feed livestock – mainly cows, pigs and chickens. And, when it comes to deforestation, soy accounts for just a fraction of Amazon deforestation, compared with 80% for cattle farming. There has also been a ‘soy moratorium’ in place in Brazil since 2006. This agreement between major soya companies not to buy any beans grown on recently deforested land has led to an 84% decrease in Brazilian Amazon deforestation. We’ll raise a glass of soya milk to that. Is palm oil bad for the environment? From soap to sweets, margarine to make-up, palm oil is in around half of all supermarket products – and it’s a common ingredient in vegan alternatives, such as non-dairy ice creams and cheeses. In theory, there’s no problem with cultivating palm oil. The problem is that it’s often grown irresponsibly – and the rapid rise in palm oil production in south-east Asia in particular has caused huge deforestation and pushed the orangutan towards extinction. Environmental campaign group Rainforest Rescue claims an area of forest the size of 300 football pitches is lost in Indonesia every hour to palm oil farmers. Though some critics aren’t convinced about its environmental credentials, there is a sustainable palm oil scheme and a growing number of global brands have pledged to produce more sustainable palm oil, including L'Oréal, Nestlé and Unilever. Is imported fruit bad for the environment? Evidence shows that vegan diets tend to have far lower carbon, water and ecological footprints than those of meat- or fish-eaters. One Italian study found two vegan participants with extremely high eco-impacts, but this turned out to be because they only ate fruit. As Helen Breewood, research assistant at the Food Climate Research Network (FCRN) explains, imported fruit can be a problem because it’s often air-freighted into the UK. This increases its carbon footprint. However, ‘food miles’ alone aren’t necessarily the best measure of sustainability – some intensively grown local produce can have a bigger footprint than imported food. Helen adds that there are still a lot of knowledge gaps. For example, there is currently little research into newly fashionable vegan foods – such as jackfruit, often used to create vegan ‘pulled pork’ – so it’s hard to judge their environmental credentials. What will a sustainable diet look like in the future? What does all this mean for our future eating habits? Some experts point to the rise of technology and plant-based, lab-grown or 3D-printed meats – coming soon to a restaurant near you. These have the potential to dramatically slash the environmental footprint of food. Bill Gates even calls them the ‘food of the future.’ Other experts believe that living creatures will continue to feature in our future diet, but they won’t be farm animals. Though not vegan, of course, insects are often rich in vitamins and minerals including iron and zinc, as well as essential fatty acids like omega-3. They're also low in fat and a good source of protein. Not a fan of pan-fried crickets? Not a problem: the EAT-Lancet Commission led by Dr Walter Willett, professor of medicine at Harvard University, was created in 2019 to develop a diet that’s good for both us and the planet. As the report notes: "Food is the single strongest lever to optimise human health and environmental sustainability on Earth. However, food is currently threatening both people and planet." But, the resulting ‘planetary health diet’ is not vegan. Dr Willett says: "Global consumption of fruits, vegetables, nuts and legumes will have to double, and consumption of foods such as red meat and sugar will have to be reduced by more than 50%." In reality, this looks like a flexitarian diet – largely plant-based, with very modest amounts of meat, fish and dairy. Of course, you can choose not to eat meat, but this isn’t possible for everyone – some global populations depend on agro-pastoral livelihoods and animal protein from their livestock. For that reason, the commission hasn’t recommended going vegan, but instead suggests a whole raft of changes to the way we grow, transport, eat (and waste) all the food produced on the planet. So, in short, my opinion is yes – a vegan diet is better for the environment. But, it’s not the only way we can help reduce carbon emissions, deforestation, water scarcity and decreasing biodiversity on the planet. Still, definitely something to consider next time you’re out shopping for dinner. Enjoyed this? Now read: What is the planetary healthy diet? What is a flexitarian diet? A balanced vegan diet What would the world look like if everyone went vegan? Paul Allen is a former BBC environmental editor and a director at Lark. Find him on Twitter @larkingly. All health content on goodfood.com is provided for general information only, and should not be treated as a substitute for the medical advice of your own doctor or any other health care professional. If you have any concerns about your general health, you should contact your local health care provider. See our website terms and conditions for more information. For expert advice on everything from making products last longer, to reducing energy use and your carbon footprint, see sustainable living advice on Which.
Recycling is now part of our everyday routine, but are you making these common mistakes that could undo all your hard work?
Cardboard boxes, cans and tins, glass jars – not to mention plastic bottles – waste from our kitchen (and beyond) soon starts to stack up. The most recent figures reveal we produced just over 27 million tonnes of household waste in 2020. The good news is that 70% of this waste can be reused or recycled, but the bad news is only 44% of it is actually sent for recycling. So, what can you do to be a better recycler? 1. Think about recycling before you buy The very start of the recycling process should be when you’re considering whether to buy something in the first place. For example, if there’s an option to buy a product in a container that’s easily recyclable, such as cardboard, over something made from black plastic, then opt for the one that won’t end up in landfill. Check what can and can’t be recycled before you go shopping. 2. Reuse rather than recycle Recycling is a great idea, but it’s even better to reuse items – recycling involves using extra energy to break down and reform something into a new product, but reusing it means just that. Wash out jars to reuse them – and save money on fashionable storage jars, keep ‘trigger’ spray bottles for cleaning products or watering plants, and repurpose plastic tubs for storing smaller items like screws, hair clips or make-up. For larger and unloved items like equipment, you can list them on sites like Freecycle so they go to a new home instead of the local tip. 3. What does your local council recycle? It’s often a postcode lottery when it comes to what can be recycled. As a general rule, bottles, cans and paper can be recycled in most areas. However, your local council may take other items, such as foil, empty spray cans or perfume bottles, too. Find out what you can put in your bins to avoid the whole lot being contaminated and sent to landfill. If your local council doesn’t recycle items such as crisp packets or food pouches, you may be able to drop them off at a local collection centre. 4. Put recycling bins in every room A simple way to ensure you’re recycling everything you can is to have recycling bins, even just a bag hooked over a door handle, in every room. When you finish a shampoo bottle or empty a printer cartridge, for example, this means you’re much more likely to separate out your rubbish and put it into the correct bins. Not sure which bin to use? Check the recycling symbols on all packets, packaging and bottles before throwing them away. 5. Get composting Recycling isn’t just about plastic and glass – your food waste can also be put to good use as compost. If you have a compost heap at home you can put the following in your bin: • raw fruit and vegetable peelings, like potato skins • teabags – check if they contain plastic and if so, empty the tea leaves out and throw the bags away • eggshells – these provide minerals for the compost • grass cuttings, weeds and garden trimmings • egg boxes and shredded or torn up paper – these break down more slowly and allow important air pockets to form in the compost Don’t add any meat or dairy or pet poo to a compost heap, as these can lead to pests, like rats, and unpleasant smells. You don’t even need a garden to become a composter. You could buy an indoor compost bin like this bokashi system, while some community gardens or allotments may have composters you can contribute to. If your council collects your food waste then you can add more items as this waste will go into a different type of composting system such as an anaerobic digester or an in-vessel composting system. • any cooked or raw meat, fish and bones • dairy If you find yourself with compostable packaging it should tell you what kind of system it can be composted in. Related content: How to compost food at home 6. Avoid contamination OK, contamination is a strong word – there’s no nuclear fuel leak involved – but in recycling terms, contamination means the wrong items getting mixed in with your recycling. And when that happens, the whole lorry load may get sent to landfill. To avoid contaminating your recycling, make sure you know what your local council can and can’t take away, rinse out any jars, tins and bottles with washing-up water (using the dishwasher may waste more energy) and make sure any non-recyclable film lids from yogurt pots or ready meals have been removed and thrown away separately. 7. To squash or not to squash? The biggest component in many recyclable items is air, so squashing down boxes, cartons and plastic bottles in your recycling bin means you can fit a lot more in. For plastic bottles, squash them down to save space and stop them rolling off sorting machine conveyor belts. Screw the lid back on too – they’re too small to make it through recycling sorting machines by themselves. However, don’t crush your drinks cans. Recycling machines rely on material, size and shape to sort items properly but if a can is crushed, the machine may not be able to identify it. Your can could then end up in the non-recyclable pile and taken to landfill. 8. Buy recycled items Recycling your food packaging is very admirable, but you can also buy items made from recycled materials. This means jars made from existing glass bottles, cans from old cans, or plastic bottles created from recycled plastics. Check the label to see if it’s made from 100% recycled materials or 100% recycled plastic. Watch out for the phrase ‘100% recyclable’ though – this only means a product can be recycled, it doesn’t mean that it has been. Unfortunately, brands are now aware that ‘100% recyclable’ sounds much more impressive than ‘contains 0.25% recycled material’. So, check the packaging before you hit the checkout, and you’ll become a better recycler in more ways than one. More on recycling and packaging Recycling symbols explained 6 pieces of packaging to avoid 10 tips for reducing your plastic waste Reduce, reuse and recycle your plastic packaging How to reduce food packaging waste Paul Allen is a former BBC environmental editor and a director at Lark. Find him on Twitter @larkingly
Our climate is changing due to greenhouse gas emissions. Get the low-down on what they are, where they come from and how to help reduce them in our guide to greenhouse gases.
It feels like scientists have been talking about the ‘greenhouse effect’ and greenhouse gases for decades – in fact, they’ve been discussing the issue since the 1820s – but we don’t feel any closer to solving the problems caused by greenhouse gas emissions, mainly global warming. One issue is that there’s an overwhelming amount of science to get to grips with. So let’s break the topic down into bite-sized chunks, focusing on how the food we eat contributes to climate change. What are greenhouse gases? Before we get to greenhouse gases, we need to cover the greenhouse effect. This is when heat and energy from the sun get trapped in the Earth’s atmosphere. Some of this is a natural process, but gases created by human activity are trapping more heat in the atmosphere, raising the temperature and causing global warming or climate change. These gases are therefore known as ‘greenhouse gases’ (GHG). There are seven greenhouse gases that contribute directly to climate change: • carbon dioxide (CO2) • methane (CH4) • nitrous oxide (N2O) • hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) • perfluorocarbons (PFCs) • sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) • nitrogen trifluoride (NF3) Carbon dioxide makes up the majority of our GHG, which is why so much research is focused on carbon emissions and/or reducing them. Sometimes you may see greenhouse gases expressed as CO2e, particularly when discussing carbon footprints. This is because a single item or activity can generate multiple GHG, but to keep things simple they are grouped together as a ‘carbon dioxide equivalent’ (the amount of carbon dioxide that would have the same climate-change impact), or CO2e. Where do they come from? The most recent figures show transport is responsible for 33% of the UK’s total carbon emissions, including the cars that we drive and lorries transporting goods or materials. The second largest contributor to our CO2 (27%) emissions is the production and consumption of energy, either for heating our homes or via manufacturing. On a global scale, food production is responsible for 25% of all the GHG produced. This includes the growing, raising and harvesting all the plants, animals and animal products, like cheese, that we eat, plus the processing, transport and storage of that food. Cooking this food uses more energy, and releases more CO2 as a result, while food wastage – throwing away leftovers or perfectly good food that could’ve been eaten – also releases greenhouse gases. Which foods produce the most GHG? If you’ve been reading the food news headlines, you’ll know that meat and dairy have by far the biggest impact, responsible for 14.5% of the world’s total GHG emissions every year. This is due to the deforestation involved in clearing land to raise some livestock, the impact of cows and sheep on the environment, and the energy needed to process and transport it all. Switching to a plant-based diet seems like the best solution, but it isn’t without problems. A 2018 study found global rice farms now produce as much CO2 as the UK, Italy, Spain and Germany combined. Flooding rice fields reduces weed growth but also allows bacteria to break down organic matter, which produces methane. To help reduce methane emissions – and cut down on water use – farmers have been switching between flooding fields and letting them dry out. However, this increases the amount of nitrous oxide (N2O) released by microbes in the soil: up to 45 times more than in permanently flooded fields. N2O is actually 300 times more damaging than CO2 and also stays in the environment for 100 years longer. To help balance out the release of both GHG, experts say the answer is to keep paddy fields shallowly flooded, but it will take time to teach small-scale farmers these methods. How you can reduce GHG emissions Reducing the amount of meat and dairy you eat is one of the most effective ways to cut GHG, while vegetarians and vegans can eat more alternative grains such as quinoa or buckwheat, rather than rice. If you’re really serious about reducing your contribution to GHG, a controversial 2017 report recommends four ‘simple’ steps: • switch to a plant-based diet • avoid travelling by plane • live car-free • have one fewer child If you’ve already got kids, you can’t send one back [sorry…], but teaching them how to reduce their GHG emissions can help create a more sustainable future for you, them, and everyone. More on sustainability 10 ways to cut your carbon footprint The facts about food miles 6 pieces of packaging to avoid 10 ways to eat out sustainably How to reduce food waste Is a vegan diet better for the environment? How to compost food at home Sustainability hub page Paul Allen is a former BBC environmental editor and a director at Lark. Find him on Twitter @larkingly.
Is ‘closed loop’ the future of recycling?
“What goes around comes around” used to be a negative expression, but when it comes to recycling, it could be the answer to dealing with our waste. Here, we explain ‘closed loop’ recycling.
Recycling feels like it’s getting more complicated – with so many questions to ask. What type of plastic is it? Is it compostable? Can I rinse and recycle it or do I need to bin it completely? And now there’s another label to get your head around: closed loop recycling. The good news is closed loop recycling is something that local authorities or recycling companies tend to deal with, and the even better news is that we still benefit from the results. But we all have a part to play in helping ‘closed loop’ become one solution to our recycling problems. What is closed loop recycling? In very simple terms, closed loop recycling means a product is created, recycled and then turned into a new product. This could be, for example: • a glass jar is washed and reused as a glass jar, or is crushed and made into a different glass item • aluminium cans are melted down and reformed into car parts or pressed into new aluminium sheets • plastic bottles get turned into different bottles, clothes or insulation for our homes This system reduces the need for raw materials, like fossil fuels to create plastic, and reduces the impact on the planet – less waste is sent to landfill and less pollution is produced. The idea is that the original materials (glass, plastic, etc) can be reused time and time again, creating the ‘loop’. The downsides to closed loop recycling Closed loop recycling is a step in the right direction, but there are still problems, although most of these stem from our recycling process as a whole. In the UK, our recycling rates have hovered around 44-45% since 2013. There are many reasons for this, such as a lack of recycling facilities like deposit-return schemes outside the home, poor public information, differences in local authority recycling centres, and a UK recycling system that is ‘regarded as inefficient at best and broken at worst’. In addition to these major infrastructure problems, there are smaller issues closer to home. These include contamination with household recycling – not rinsing out jars or cans properly, which means the whole load may be sent to landfill or an incinerator – or poor sorting at recycling plants. Sorting is either done by hand, which introduces more opportunities for error, or machines, but not all plants have the right machinery to sort the different types of plastic or metal. The result? Not enough materials are currently recycled in order to create the ‘new’ materials needed to continue closed loop recycling. What can we do to help closed loop recycling? The most obvious step is to make sure you sort your household recycling properly; wash out all containers, check you’re putting the right items in the right bins, and find out what your local authority can actually process before throwing something away. But the most valuable thing we can do is to demand products made from recycled materials. In the UK, small brands like Paper Round, a commercial recycling company founded by Friends of the Earth, now collect different types of business waste including used coffee grounds that are turned into bio-fuel pellets for bio-mass boilers. Bigger brands are also stepping up – Tesco is moving over to a closed loop packaging system, and in 2020 banned all single-use plastic multipacks from its shelves. Even global companies such as Apple are transitioning towards 100% recycled products, while household giants including Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Coca-Cola and Nestlé have signed up for TerraCycle’s Loop scheme; products in refillable, durable packaging are delivered to customers, then collected, washed and reused. Loop will be launching in the UK in 2020. You could also switch to only buying 100% recycled products, or write to your MP and ask what they’re doing to encourage greater consistency across council recycling collections. It’s time to close that loop while we have the chance. More on recycling and packaging Recycling symbols explained 6 pieces of packaging to avoid 10 tips for reducing your plastic waste Reduce, reuse and recycle your plastic packaging How to reduce food packaging waste Paul Allen is a former BBC environmental editor and a director at Lark. Find him on Twitter @larkingly