Lunch in the Landfill: The series seeking to fight food waste

Lewisham council is urging residents to use their food waste bins

pic: allispossible.org.uk Flickr

Food waste costs the average family £60 a month, with London alone producing 900,000 tonnes of food waste every year. Household food waste makes up 70 per cent of the UK food created after farming, with hospitality and food services only responsible for nine per cent of the total. So what are people doing about it?

Today, East London Lines launch their new series, Lunch in the Landfill. This will be a four-day campaign aimed at investigating impact of these numbers on our boroughs, so that you can save money, reduce waste and make the best of your weekly shop.

The series is not all doom-and-gloom as we follow those that are doing more to reduce their waste and the delicious food and drink they’re creating instead – from chutneys, to apple juice and beer – there’s no end to what you can do with your leftovers.

So for the next four days keep watching as we find out how much of your lunch is ending up in the landfill, and follow the hashtag #LunchInTheLandfill on Twitter to keep up to date.

Day 1:

Lunch in the Landfill: Exploring household food waste across London
An analysis of the key facts surrounding the problem of food waste in London – we find out how bad it is really.

Meet the Food Waste Warriors #1: Rubies in the Rubble 
Turning leftover fruit and veg into sauces and chutneys is what Rubies in the Rubble do best, so we asked them for their advice and their best recipe.

Leftover recipe #1: Make soup out of your Sunday lunch veg
Our first leftover recipe courtesy of Rubies in the rubble.

Tower Hamlets vs Lewisham: The best vs the worst food waste offender
We pit the least wasteful borough in the country, Tower Hamlets, against the most wasteful in our area, Lewisham to see how big the difference really is.

Day 2:

Hidden waste: The food diaries of ELL
East London Lines followed three households for a week to see what they ate for a week, and more importantly what they throw away.

Meet the Food Waste Warriors #2: Toast Ale
Meet the team making award-winning beer out of unwanted bread, and find out how you can make your own.

Leftover recipe #2: Make a zesty pudding out of your stale bread
Our second leftover recipe, turning stale bread into a flavourful pudding.

Day 3:

Meet the Food Waste Warriors #3: The Orchard Project
What do with all the apples in your garden? – make cider and apple juice of course!

Leftover recipe#3: Make cider out of your unwanted apples
Our final leftover recipe for a refreshing beverage.

Meet the (failed) Food Waste Warrior #4: The Would-be freegan
Our ELL reporter, Luke Vance Barr, found out whether he could handle being a freegan in South-East London.

Day 4:

The solution in our pockets: Our top five apps tackling food waste
The five best apps to download to do your bit to tackle food waste – and get cheap food at the same time!

Wild beasts into wild feasts: Meet The Foragers advocating meals with responsibility
We spoke to the men known as The Foragers to find out the best way to find wild produce in the city

Quiz: Are you a food waste warrior or fiend?
Take our quiz to find out whether you waste too much food – Are you a food waste warrior or fiend?

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