The Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA) is encouraging restaurants to reduce the 600,000 tonnes of food we all waste every year, with Too Good to Waste doggy boxes, asking diners to take their left-overs home.
Too Good To Waste, the SRA's campaign to tackle food waste in restaurants, launched on 5 October, kicking off with a cook off in Clerkenwell.
The average restaurant produces nearly half a kilo of food waste per diner per meal and the industry as a whole throws out 600,000 tonnes of food waste every year - most of it filling up scarce landfill space. It's costing restaurants, diners and the environment a fortune! Food waste is a serious issue. For every meal eaten in a UK restaurant, nearly half a kilo of food is wasted – through preparation, spoilage and what’s left behind on the plate.
As part of the solution, the SRA's campaign is asking restaurants and diners to 'think inside the box' by introducing them to the doggy box. The SRA wants to make it not just acceptable but positive for diners to ask to take food home, while at the same time raising consumer and industry awareness about the scale of restaurant food waste.
The campaign is backed by top chefs and restaurateurs, including:
- Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
- Thomasina Miers, Wahaca
- Antony Worrall Thompson
- Cyrus Todiwala, Café Spice Namasté
- Bruno Loubet, Bistrot Bruno loubet
- Silla Bjerrum, Feng Sushi
- Henry Dimbleby, Leon
- Sam Harrison, Sam’s Brasserie
- Anna Hansen, The Modern Pantry
- Sriram Aylur, The Quilon
- Lisa Drabble, co-owner Squid and Pear
So help the SRA squash the food waste scandal: show you're a lover not a leaver!
Visit the Too Good to Waste website at: www.toogood-towaste.co.uk
Food Legacy: The campaign, launched October 2011, is inspired by the London 2012 Food Vision adopted by the organisers of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Food Legacy asks caterers, restaurants, event organisers and hospitality organisations to commit publicly to taking steps to improve the healthiness, ethics and sustainability of the food they serve.
