Project overview

The BGCI Fruit and Veg Food Waste Challenge was a one-year pilot project that aimed to persuade visitors to English botanic gardens to take on a 30-day challenge to reduce their fruit and vegetable food waste. We wanted to encourage people to explore the world of fruit and vegetables, appreciate the diversity and versatility that these food types offer in our diets, and showcase the simple ways that we can reduce our food waste, whilst enjoying more fruit and vegetables in our diet.

BGCI developed the project using a website which allowed individuals across England to track their food waste with a particular focus on plant-based foods. Users could track their progress, gain access to resources (recipes and food initiatives), ask questions from the partnerships and compete against others in how much waste they produce.

We recruited individuals utilising our network of BGCI members to promote the challenge and ran ten recruitment events in English botanic gardens to discuss the challenge and encourage people to sign up. The challenge was open to everyone, but we wanted to particularly focus on families, a target group for botanic gardens.

By challenging households and providing a range of support materials, we expected to see a reduction in fruit and vegetable food waste during the challenge period. Due to the length of the challenge we hoped to show that a commitment to this challenge would lead to an increased interest in adopting other environmental behaviours.