The impact of food waste
The UK population wastes 10 million tonnes of food a year, 70% of which is from households. Producing food requires vast amounts of natural resources, with the global food system generating 25-30% of all total greenhouse gas emissions.
Most people don't think they waste food but 30% of north London's waste is food. 1 in 5 bags of food we buy go to waste. Reducing household food waste will help protect the planet and could save households up to £1000 per year.
Bin Less Save More workshops
As part of our commitment to delivering our Waste Prevention Plan, we developed and delivered Bin Less Save More workshops across north London. Highlighting the link between avoiding food waste and saving money, we taught people how to buy, plan for, store and cook food to reduce household food waste and save money.
We asked participants to monitor and weigh their food waste before and after attending the workshops. Results showed that the workshops significantly reduced household food waste. Participants also reported improvements in knowledge about the environmental impacts of food waste, greater confidence in reducing their food waste, and a high likelihood of adopting new food waste prevention behaviours after taking part in the workshop.
Six community groups have been awarded £2000 funding to deliver Bin Less Save More Workshops
NLWA awarded six community groups £2000 to deliver Bin Less Save More workshops within their communities during 2026. The awarded community groups are:
- Pakeman Primary School PTA (Islington)
- MB Community CIC (Waltham Forest and Haringey)
- Bangla Housing Association (Hackney)
- London Cycling Club CIC (Enfield)
- Mind/Highgate Community Champions (Camden)
- West Hendon Arts and Wellness (Barnet)
Successful applicants received:
- Training on how to deliver the workshops
- Workshop implementation guide (step-by-step delivery instructions)
- Promotional materials (A4 poster, A5 poster, social media artwork for Facebook and Instagram)
- Workshop resources (Power Point presentation, logbook, goal setting cards, activity cards)
- Evaluation materials (pre and post workshop survey, data entry spreadsheet)
- Cooking equipment (on request)
For more tips and recipes on how to reduce food waste visit Saving tips – Eat like a Londoner
To find out more about the workshops being delivered in your area contact wastepreventionteam@nlwa.gov.uk
