Norwich Castle lit up in bid to reduce 6.7 million pint milk waste

Norwich Castle has been lit up as part of a campaign encouraging people to reduce the amount of milk they throw away.

According to environmental charity Hubbub, 6.7 million pints of milk are thrown away across Norfolk and Suffolk each year.

For the past two years, the charity has partnered with both Norfolk and Suffolk county councils in a bid to reduce food waste.

The light installation at Norwich Castle, which is taking place over two nights from 2 November, is the campaign's latest attempt to raise awareness.

Video of milk being spilled and messages encouraging people to freeze their milk are being projected on the building.

Tessa Tricks, from Hubbub, said: "We want to make a splash with this installation and raise awareness of the environmental impact of wasting food and drink. 

"We hope that by highlighting the issue of milk waste, people will start to think beyond the plastic bottle it’s often poured from and consider the huge amount of resource and energy that has gone into producing its contents."

According to Hubbub, food waste has more of an impact on climate change than single-use plastic.

Councillor Andy Grant, Norfolk County Council cabinet member for Environment and Waste, said: "Our wonderful museum team have calculated that 6.7 million pints of milk would fill the huge space inside the castle keep from the main floor to halfway up to the roof.

"This is clearly a shocking waste of milk and really hits home how much is just thrown away every year. Knowing that on average one third of our bins at home are food waste shows that if we all do a little bit, together we can make a big difference."