Reducing food waste

• London throws out 750,000 slices of bread every day.
• London throws out 560,000 whole potatoes every day.
• London throws out 400,000 untouched apples every day.
• London throws out 73,000 whole eggs every day.
• London throws out 1,450,000 grapes every day.
• London throws out 176,000 bananas every day.
• We throw out almost half the salad we buy.

A third of the food we buy ends up in the bin. Therefore London’s food waste represents around 6.3 million tonnes of greenhouse gases.

Save money, reduce waste to landfill and feel better about food waste by following these tips:

• Plan your meals over the course of the week. Check the dates on what you have in the fridge so that you cook or use first the items that are expiring soonest - see the food storage page for a guide to dates on food packaging.
• Write a shopping list before you go shopping - this will help you to plan how much food you actually need for the week - and look at our starve your trolley page for more shopping hints.
• Understand portion sizes. Much of the food we throw out comes from cooking more much than necessary. We’ve all binned half a pan of rice or pasta by misjudging the amount required.
• Do you make packed lunches or picnics? Buy lunch boxes or food containers (or save containers from take-away meals) to pack them in, to reduce your use of cling film and foil - this can save you money as well as reducing waste.

Find out about composting, so that even when you do have food items that can't be eaten, they don't end up going to landfill. If you don't have a garden and can't have your own compost bin, does your local council have a food waste collection service? These can take things like tea bags, vegetable and fruit peelings, egg shells, coffee grounds and in some cases cooked meat or fish. Research shows that for most households almost half the food waste thrown into the bin could have been composted.

The food industry

You're not alone in worrying about all the food that goes to waste in this country. More and more businesses in the food industry are focussing on sustainability and taking responsible decisions about how they manage their food waste.

Next time you're out shopping or dining, ask the seller how they avoid leftover food going to waste. The more people who make informed shopping decisions, the more the industry will take notice.

FareShare is a UK charity that channels surplus ‘fit for purpose’ product from the food and drink industry to organisations working with disadvantaged people in the community.