254 million bread crusts binned each year – worth over £13 million

Save a Crust workshops launched to help households make the most of their loaves 

Across London, 254 million bread crusts are likely to be binned each year as one in four people say they overlook the end slices of loaves. That’s the equivalent of just under 13 million loaves of bread – or over £13 million1 – being thrown away in crusts alone. On average, a household that avoids crusts throws away the equivalent of one and a quarter full loaves of bread a year, according to new research2 released today by North London Waste Authority (NLWA).  

Overall, 43% of households are throwing away crusts, 15% don’t eat the ends of sliced loaves and one in 10 reject the ends of fresh loaves. Young people seem to be far fussier about crusts with 15% of 16-24s cutting their crusts off sandwiches but just 4% of over 55s doing so. Youngsters are also much more likely to cut the crusts off their toast than the older generation.

Food waste is a huge problem in the UK, with the average household throwing away £810 worth of food every year3. And with bread in the top two most wasted food items4, NLWA has commissioned charity Keep Britain Tidy to launch a series of new, free ‘Save a Crust’ workshops in north London with professional chefs demonstrating how to make tasty treats from leftover bread.

Among the top tips to be offered by chefs at the events will be:

Prep and storage:

• Pop crusts in a bag in the freezer as you go along – you’ll be surprised how quickly you have enough to cook or bake with
• To make breadcrumbs, if you haven’t got a blender use a cheese grater with either fresh or frozen crusts
• Plan ahead – with a little planning you can ensure none of the bread you buy goes to waste, saving you money and benefiting the environment

Easy meal and snack ideas, including:

• Sweet treat: Cinnamon Crunch – toss crusts with butter, sugar and cinnamon for a snack similar to donuts
• Savoury bake: Coat chicken, fish and vegetables with breadcrumbs or use as a gratin to top a pasta bake or macaroni cheese 

Chair of NLWA, Councillor Clyde Loakes, said: “Many people will be familiar with reaching past the end slice of a loaf to get to the next piece. Equally, some people prefer their sandwich or morning toast without crusts. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, but what’s important is that we start to shift the culture of just binning without thinking. Discarding your crusts may seem a small thing to do, but each crust adds to the huge food waste mountain which is damaging the environment and is very costly to manage.

“What particularly surprised me with our research is that one in 10 under 35s say the problem of food waste is so huge they don’t believe anything they do will make a difference. We want to show that small changes can have a big impact and that’s one reason we’ve launched our Save a Crust campaign. Making brand new dishes and treats from a product you simply would have thrown away otherwise is a brilliant way for households to reduce their food waste and save some money – whilst brushing up on their baking skills.”

Providing training and inspiration at the free Save a Crust workshops will be professional chefs from the Skills Training Network, which helps individuals and families to cook in a healthy, affordable way which reduces food waste.

Chef Mark Borrell, said: “We are passionate about helping people to waste less food. Making a tasty bread and butter pudding, stuffing or Tiramisu using crusts you’d otherwise have binned is really rewarding and I love seeing the look on people’s faces when they realise what how easy it is.”

When asked about food waste in general, more than two thirds of respondents said they do make an effort by buying less food and using leftovers but believe it’s hard to eliminate waste completely. One in five are aware they shouldn’t waste food but say they still buy or throw away too much. A further one in six say throwing away food is OK as long as you throw it in food waste caddy. One in three say they never throw away any food, with older people wasting less.

The free ‘Save a Crust’ Workshops will be taking place across all north London boroughs over the next five weeks, with a live outdoor event in Wood Green on 2 February. Visit the WUTW website to find out more about the campaign and get recipe ideas for making the most of leftover bread. North London residents will also be able to register for a workshop online. 

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Further data from survey: What do people do with uneaten crusts?

• 15% say they use them in cooking or baking
• 32% feed them to animals or birds (increasing in the older age groups)
• 12% compost them at home
• One in five put crusts in their food waste caddy
• One in five simply throw them in the general rubbish bin.

Save a Crust events

A Save a Crust workshop will be held at primary schools in each north London borough including Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Hackney, Haringey, Islington and Waltham Forest – these are open to all people that live, work or study in each borough. People interested in the below events can register at www.wiseuptowaste.org.uk/wasteless/foodwaste/save-a-crust/:

In addition, a free outdoor event with a live cookery demonstration will be taking place at Hollywood Green (180 High Road, Wood Green, London N22 6EJ) on 2 February where anyone can drop by without needing to book. Clover Hutson from Artisan Cooks will present the show and food samples will be offered to participants along with recipe cards and food waste reduction tools. The cookery demonstration will showcase a range of delicious bread-based dishes, such as panzanella and ribollita soup, which will be available for visitors to try on the day. Attendees will also be able to learn how to make their bread last longer and take away the recipes for the dishes cooked on the day. All events are all open the public. Visit WUTW website for a full schedule of events and workshop booking information. 

 References

1. ONS: Average cost of an 800g loaf of white sliced bread in Nov 2018 = £1.05: https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/timeseries/czoh/mm23
2. Survey of nationally representative sample of 2,085 adults living in London, conducted in June 2018 by Censuswide. Additional calculation from data:

• 2.81 mean loaves of bread used in one household each week x 2 end slices per loaf x 52 weeks = 292.24 end slices thrown away by a single family which doesn’t eat them
• 292.24 end slices thrown away/mean 20 slices in a loaf = equivalent to 14.612 loaves of bread in a year (round figure of 15 loaves)
• 292.24 end slices thrown away per household that doesn’t eat them x (15.30% + 9.9% = 25.2%) proportion of people who say they don’t eat the end slices of sliced and fresh loaves x 3,447,000 London households (ONS) = 253,852,523 end slices thrown away in total London in one year
• 253,852,522.56 end slices thrown away/mean 20 slices in a loaf = equivalent to 12,692,626 loaves of bread per year

1. Value of food thrown away household on average: http://www.wrap.org.uk/sites/files/wrap/Household%20food%20waste%20restated%20data%202007-2015.pdf
2. WRAP - Household food waste: restated data for 2007-2015 (2018, pg. 6) http://www.wrap.org.uk/sites/files/wrap/Household%20food%20waste%20restated%20data%202007-2015%20FINAL.pdf