17 March 2025
Did you know that enough food for the equivalent of 15 billion meals is wasted in the UK every single year? It’s just staggering. This is enough to feed the entire UK population 3 meals a day for 11 weeks, just going to waste.
We want to change that. As London’s largest food redistribution charity, our vision is a London where good food is never wasted, and no one goes hungry. We strive to reduce the negative impact food waste has on the environment by working with the food industry to rescue high-quality surplus produce that would otherwise have gone to waste.
These top 5 food waste facts will give you an insight into the size of the issue.
And remember, if you want to join the fight to prevent food waste and feed people in need, you can get involved below.
In the UK, around 6.4 million tonnes of edible food is wasted each year. Only 1% of all food surplus is currently rescued by food redistribution charities. This is shocking when 1 in 4 families are struggling to put food on their tables and 1 in 8 use a food bank regularly.
In 2024, The Felix Project rescued 1,394 tonnes of bananas, which is obviously bananas! It was the number one most rescued item, followed closely by 1,097 tonnes of potatoes. The reason for this is their short shelf life (they travel a looooong way to get here) and our propensity to toss them as soon as there's any discoloration on the peels.
So how do we prevent this? We can start by not buying a whole bunch! Many shops sell them loose, so only buying what we need for a few days will prevent finding a squishy and brown banana at the bottom of the fruit bowl. Bananas also freeze well! You can freeze them whole, in the peel (it will turn brown), but the banana will be fine. Let them thaw in your fridge overnight, and they'll be ready for your yoghurt, porridge, or breakfast in the morning. Oh, and have you tried Felix's Kitchen's tried-and-tested Banana Peel Curry recipe?
Right at the top of the food waste chain is bread, too. We waste almost 900,000 tonnes of bread every year – which is a mind-blowing 24 million slices every day. You can do the math on how many sandwiches that is.
But why? For starters, most people don't eat the whole loaf; that means the ends, or "the butt", in common parlance are tossed, or we cut off the perfectly tasty and nutrient-filled crusts.
Another reason is our perception of freshness. Often people will throw away bread they perceive as stale when in fact all it needs is a light toast or use it and make breadcrumbs! And finally, we often forget we already have bread at home when out shopping.
Did you know? UK homes waste 6.6 million tonnes of food, with 4.5 million tonnes still edible. That works out to 70 kg of food per person in the UK. 70 kg! To put that in perspective, that is the same weight as the average home washing machine or a mountain goat!
To end on a cheerier note, in 2024, The Felix Project rescued almost 16,000 tonnes of perfectly good and healthy surplus food. This food is equivalent to almost 38 million meals that we delivered to over 1,200 charities, primary schools and holiday programmes in London who fight hunger in the capital.
The number 1 thing we can do as individuals is be mindful of our food. Being aware of what we have in our cupboards, in the fridges, and in the deepest, darkest corner of our freezers can prevent us from letting food go to waste. Too often we go to the store only to return home with an item we already have. Or we forget what's in the freezer, only to find it 8 months later, covered in ice and freezer burn. By keeping a list of what we have, we can maximise the food we have in our houses while saving the planet and protecting our wallets.
Remember, when we throw away food, we are throwing away all the resources that went into it. Resources that are vital to the health of our planet.
