Power up this year's Six Nations with your food waste and help Wales become world leader

13 February 2023

With this year's Six Nations well underway, Wales Recycles' latest research reveals that people in Wales are just as passionate about recycling as they are about the game.

When it comes to recycling, we're top of the league - ranked best in the UK, second in Europe and third in the world. Almost 90% of people in Wales feel proud to see Wales take the lead and, just like rugby, over 80% say that recycling is an important part of their identity.

Powys County Council is backing Wales Recycles' mighty mission to get Wales to number one in the world, and one of the easiest ways you can play your part is by recycling all your food waste. With around a quarter of what's found in the general rubbish bin being food waste, there's a lot more that can be done.

"Powys people are already proving to be committed recyclers, but there is always room for improvement" says Cllr Jackie Charlton, Cabinet Member for a Greener Powys. "As a county we are recycling over 68% of our waste, but we would like to ask you all to make an extra effort to recycle more of our food waste each week and directly help combat the effects of climate change."

Not only will you be helping Wales reach the top spot, you'll also be creating energy that has the potential to power anything from the lights at the Principality Stadium, to the fridge keeping your match beers cool. That's right, in Wales, we're also leading the way in creating renewable energy with recycled food waste, helping to reduce our dependency on fossil fuels.

So, whether you're at home on the sofa, in the local pub with your friends, or sat in the stands at the Principality Stadium, when it's time for kick-off, remember the benefits your food waste can have on powering your experience of the Six Nations.

Here are six ways recycling your food waste could help support Wales in the Six Nations:

1. Power the floodlights at the Principality Stadium - Bananas power the players; the skins can power the stadium. If everyone in Wales recycled 1 banana skin, it could create enough energy to power the Principality Stadium floodlights for almost 10 days.
2. Power a TV at home - 47 recycled teabags could generate enough electricity to power a TV for 80 minutes - enough time to watch both halves of a Six Nations game!
3. Watching the game on your phone - Recycling 2 banana skins can fully charge 3 smartphones. That's more than enough juice for several games.
4. Power a fridge to chill the beers - A caddy load of food waste would generate enough electricity to power a fridge for 18 hours - that's your beers chilled for this weekend's game!
5. Power the DJ set at the night out afterwards - Hitting the clubs after the game? Just 7½ caddies of recycled food waste could generate the electricity to power a DJ set for a whole hour!
6. Power the kettle the morning after - Recycling just 6 teabags could create enough electricity to boil the kettle for your morning brew.

Last year, we recycled enough food waste to power over 10,000 homes, but if the food waste that was thrown into the general rubbish was recycled too, we could have powered approximately 7,500 more.

So don't forget to recycle all your inedible food waste - including eggshells, bones, teabags, and fruit and veg peelings. They can all be recycled and let's cross the line with food recycling this rugby season.

Head on over to the Wales Recycles website to discover the full power of your food waste recycling.