We’re always happy to hear from any of you do-gooders. Whether you have a question, suggestion or even complaint(!), nothing's wasted on us.

So glad you asked! Rubies in the Rubble is an award-winning brand of delicious condiments made from ingredients that would otherwise be wasted. Our mission is to provide a solution to food waste but also raise awareness about food waste and the need to value our food supply.

Our range of ketchups & relishes are made with fresh fruit & vegetables sourced directly from farms, whilst our mayo is made with aquafaba, a plant-based alternative to eggs that is usually thrown away. Condiments are a fantastic way of preserving produce by extending their shelf-life with vinegars and sugars.

Rubies in the Rubble was originally a play on the phrase ‘diamond in the rough’ and it was from seeing a bounty of great fresh produce being discarded that I thought – there is treasure in this bounty. It may have a short shelf-life but I can turn it into something that will extend its life and value!

It’s about valuing things that are often over-looked. Where some see Rubble, we see Rubies!

Today, approximately 1/3 of all food produced on our planet is wasted – either in transit (from field to consumer) or thrown by consumers buying too much and discarding the excess [1]

In total that’s 1.3 billion tonnes of food being wasted each year representing 3.3 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide emitted from its production (growing, harvesting, transporting, and packaging). And just to put 3.3bn metric tons of CO2 in perspective; if food-waste were a country, it would be the world’s third largest emitter of greenhouse gases, behind the U.S. and China. [2]

Therefore, as we explore ways of controlling the and whilst food waste accounts for 7% of all greenhouse gas emissions [3] is it not a logical step to address reducing our food waste footprint more closely?

To better manage what we already have rather than looking for solutions elsewhere?

Eradicating unnecessary food waste would not only impact carbon emissions, it would have other benefits and knock on effects including world hunger, political stability and preservation of our natural resources.

Deforestation is a large concern when addressing global warming.

Forests play a critical role in regulating our climate and are the 2nd largest store of carbon (after the oceans). But when cleared and burnt – predominantly to grow crops – our forests turn from valuable carbon stores to carbon-dioxide emitters.

Large-scale deforestation can be prevented through better, smarter agriculture[4]. While we waste 1/3 of food, we are required to grow 1.3 times as much as we need to feed the planet, all of which demands farmland, and thus putting forests at risk.[5]

Therefore, the way we produce and consume food needs to change for the sustainability of our resources and future food supply. Currently we produce enough food to feed everyone on our planet today and the 2.5 billion more people to come in the next 35 years. Globally we waste four times the amount of food which could feed all malnourished people around the world[6]. Yet by the way its currently managed, one would never know.

We have to waste less and feed more.

In our opinion, in developed countries, a big part of this is the need for us to change our attitude towards food – to see it as a precious, natural resource that needs to be enjoyed and treasured. We need to re-address use-by dates, as well as planning and caring for what we have in homes, retail and restaurants better. For developing countries, it involves looking at infrastructure to improve storage, transportation and communication around supply and demand / availability of markets.

We also each have a responsibility to ourselves, to only take sufficient amounts of food that we want to eat and to finish what we have on our plate.

The solution is within our grasp.

[1] UN Environment, 2019. Global Environment Outlook – GEO-6: Summary for Policymakers, Nairobi: Cambridge University Press.

[2] http://www.fao.org/docrep/018/i3347e/i3347e.pdf

[3] Murdock, A., 2017. What you need to know about food waste and climate change: A suprisingly large problem with some simple solutions. [Online] Available at: https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/longform/what-you-need-know-about-food-waste-and-climate-change[Accessed 28 February 2019].

[4] John Mandyck, the chief sustainability officer of United Technologies in Davos 2015

[5] John Mandyck, the chief sustainability officer of United Technologies in Davos 2015

[6] BCFN Foundation, 2019. Three Main Food Paradoxes. [Online] Available at: https://www.barillacfn.com/en/dissemination/paradox/ [Accessed 14 March 2019]

Our simple tips for cutting down food waste at home would be:

– know what’s in your fridge and when you shop, make a shopping list so that you only buy what you actually need.

– plan recipes or meals around what you have. Get creative, substitute ingredients in recipes to incorporate what you have.

– and use your freezer well…

people often don’t use their freezers enough – it keeps everything fresh for the time you need it so theres never a reason for throwing away half a loaf or extra stew. Make fruit or veg into a fruit compote or soup and freeze it for another day.