Almost 65% of food waste generated by the hospitality industry occurs at the back-of-house and a third derives from customers’ plates, with British restaurants accused of serving over-sized portions, much like their American counterparts.
The remainder of waste tends to be disposed of at the preparation stage, according to a report from the Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA). This waste equates to three double-decker buses of food for every restaurant.
It is now illegal for French supermarkets to destroy edible food, following a petition by Arash Derambarsh, a local councilor in the Paris commune of Courbevoie.
The petition gained 211,000 signatures and the legislation was subsequently passed unanimously by the National Assembly in France in May.
The councilor has now revealed his ambitions to take the idea global and has teamed up with campaign group ONE to take the issue of food waste to the United Nations when it addresses its Millennium development goals later this year.
Jo Fowle, director of Urban People, said: “The UK currently tops the EU charts when it comes to food waste and new legislation in France forcing supermarkets to donate surplus food to charity has put pressure on retailers and suppliers this side of the Channel to step up their efforts.”
Figures suggest that food waste in the UK is not solely a supermarket issue, with almost 40,000 tonnes of the food wasted in the hospitality industry. This, according to Fowle, could – and should - be avoided if restaurants served better-sized portions and improved existing management, storage and preparation techniques.
“As well as the massive cost to the environment, food waste is costing businesses a fortune – £2.5 billion annually in the UK alone. Reducing food waste therefore has both an environmental and economic incentive,” said Fowle.
“We work with a plethora of leading restaurants across London and the South East and encourage our partners to adopt best practice to support us in this campaign.”