From bin to bank account: The opportunity in food waste

Five French chefs cooked a banquet for 5,000 in Lille on 7 October. The sophisticated menu of endive velouté, fish rillettes and tandoori vegetable stew was typical of an event of this kind, but it had one peculiarity: it had all been prepared from ingredients that were about to be binned. This 'dustbin feast' was part of a campaign to raise awareness about food waste in France, where an average of 20kg of food is wasted per person each year. According to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), about one third of all food produced annually – some 1.3 billion tonnes – is not ...