Facts on food waste

• Food waste that is sent to landfill doesn’t harmlessly breakdown. It has a big impact on the environment as it rots and releases methane – a harmful greenhouse gas that is 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide. However, it’s not all bad news as many of us will be able to recycle our food waste.

• Around 7 million tonnes of food is thrown away by households in the UK every year, and most of it could have been eaten.

• Little by little all this waste adds up, over a year the average family throws away around £700 of food shopping – equivalent to an annual utility bill. Some of the waste is made up of things like peelings, cores and bones, but the majority is, or once was, perfectly good food

• Your food does its job best when it's on a plate ready to be enjoyed. Saving food saves money and helps to slow down global warming and deforestation. Reducing the amount of food that ends up in the bin also means you can say goodbye to unnecessary packaging waste. If we all make a few small changes and start using up the food we buy, together we can make a big difference.