Brits could rescue over 380,000 meals this Stop Food Waste Day

-          Over 380,000 meals going to waste every day in the UK

-          Join the movement on Stop Food Waste Day April 27th by rescuing a meal

-          UK business spending over £2.5m a week on food disposal

Food retailers across the UK are throwing away a staggering 382,775 perfectly edible meals every day, according to findings by the online marketplace for surplus food, Too Good To Go.[1]. To bring this issue to light, Too Good To Go is challenging the British public to join them in rescuing every single meal available across the UK on Stop Food Waste Day, Friday 27th April 2018.

To put this waste into an environmental context, if these meals are saved from landfill the impact on CO2 emissions would be equivalent to taking 164 cars off the road each day. When calculated globally, the effect of food waste is so severe that if food waste were a country, it would be the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases after the US and China.

Aside from the toll on our planet, there are considerable financial implications for UK businesses. With figures released by Wrap suggesting that the average waste disposal cost per meal is 97p, the total cost of food waste for outlets is around £371,292 a day, or a staggering £2,599,042 a week across the UK.

Luckily, this part of the food waste problem is easily solved by consumers, as if every Brit rescued just one meal a year in the UK, by next Stop Food Waste Day retail food waste could be virtually eradicated. To date, Brits have rescued over 156,000 meals from food retailers including Yo! Sushi, Chop’d, Chartwells and Accor Hotels via the free Too Good To Go app – the CO2 equivalent of growing 8,086 trees for 10 years.

Jamie Crummie, co-founder of Too Good To Go, explains the impact he wants the concept to achieve: “More than an easy way to get delicious food, Too Good To Go is a catalyst to changing mindsets. What we perceive to be waste often isn't actually “waste” at all - it's perfectly good food that gets thrown away because it wasn’t sold. If every store in the UK joined the platform and everyone living here rescued just one meal a month through Too Good To Go, there would be no retail food waste in the UK - imagine that!”

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For more information, contact Anoushka Grover on agrover@toogoodtogo.co.uk or by phone on 07984828923.

Notes to editor:

About Too Good To Go

Too Good To Go is the world’s largest online marketplace for surplus food. Our mission is to create a world where all food produced is food consumed. Our free app connects food retailers with surplus food available with local consumers who purchase, collect and enjoy it. Too Good To Go operates in eight countries and has saved over 3.9m meals globally. In the UK over 160,000 meals have been saved to date. Find out more at www.toogoodtogo.co.uk

Stats used

Average meals per UK store on Too Good To Go platform - 6.3 (March 2018)

Total UK food businesses rated on FSA - 60,758 - http://ratings.food.gov.uk/

Wrap predicts 97p waste disposal costs per plate - http://www.wrap.org.uk/sites/files/wrap/The%20True%20Cost%20of%20Food%20Waste%20within%20Hospitality%20and%20Food%20Service%20Sector%20FINAL.pdf

UK adult population - 53.97 million - https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates/datasets/populationestimatesforukenglandandwalesscotlandandnorthernireland 

Contacts

Anoushka Grover: agrover@toogoodtogo.co.uk / 07984828923

[1] According to data from Too Good To Go and the Food Standards Agency (average meals across Too Good To stores x number of food establishments registered with the FSA)

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