London - Restaurants, pubs and hotels are being encouraged to cut portion sizes, use smaller plates and offer American-style doggy bags for left-overs.
The moves are part of the UK government-backed crusade to cut the 1 million tons of food waste – worth £3-billion – coming out of commercial kitchens every year.
The Stand Up for Food campaign, supported by the government’s waste champion Ben Elliot, has recruited celebrity chefs to help reduce the dumping of perfectly good food. And during September, the UK’s pubs, restaurants, hotels and catering companies are being challenged to cut waste.
Trials have identified how simple steps, such as smaller plates for buffets and not automatically serving coleslaw and sauces with meals, can reduce waste and deliver enormous cash savings.
The campaign, co-ordinated by waste charity Wrap, also urges customers to play their part. People who never eat certain parts of a meal, such as a side salad, vegetables or garnishes, should ask for them to be left off the plate. It also suggests a more American approach to dealing with left-overs with diners encouraged to ask for a doggy bag to take home.
The campaign against food waste is supported by Wrap’s so-called Guardians of Grub, including chefs Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Ken Hom, Skye Gyngell, Melissa Hemsley and Anna Jones.
Hom said: "We can all help save the planet and our future.
"We who prepare and serve food should do everything possible to adjust our wasteful habit of discarding perfectly good food."
Peter Maddox of Wrap said: "Food waste usually goes unnoticed in relation to climate change, but we won’t stop temperatures rising if we fail to address the problems within the food system."