NOW CLOSED Share your views on food waste for CarrieMumsnet and Unilever UK and you could win £100 cash

[KatieBMumsnet]

CarrieMumsnet is talking about the issue of food waste at an event hosted by Unilever UK soon and she'd love to get your views on the topic.

Here's what Unilever UK says about food waste:
"At Unilever, thinking sustainably is at the heart of everything we do. Now we're working hard with WRAP (Waste and Resource Action Programme) and other organisations across the UK to help people to reduce the amount of food they dispose of. After all, throwing away food wastes money and it's bad for the environment too.
"According to recent research we've commissioned with the Fabian Society, the most trusted source of information about reducing food waste is our friends and family. People listed food going off too quickly, throwing away leftovers and cooking too much food in the first place as the key reasons why they waste food. We'd love to get your thoughts."

On 1st November, our Mumsnet co-founder, Carrie Longton, is going to be joining a number of influencers and experts in the world of sustainability to speak at a morning of debate and insight on the subject of food waste, hosted by Unilever UK.
Here are some questions to get you started - all views welcome:

• Do you throw away much food at home? Where does the food waste go? Do you have a kitchen caddy and compost bin?
• Does your local council offer a food waste collection service?
• What are the main reasons or circumstances that you throw food away?
• Of food you throw away, is it mainly cooked or uncooked food?
• If you don't throw away much food, how do you manage to keep waste to a minimum?
• How do you or how do you think you could make the most of the food that would otherwise be put in the bin?
• Have you got any great ideas for wasting less food?
• Have you got any top money-saving tips that also help you to throw away less food?
• Did you know that tea bags can be put into your local council food waste collection (if you have one) or composted at home?

Everyone who adds their comments to this thread will be entered into a prize draw where one winner will receive £100 cash.

Thanks and good luck,

MNHQ

Our council does a food waste service. However it is just a trial at the moment for terraced housing. What that has to do with it I don't know. When we first got our house we used the service every week but haven't done for over a year. The main reason being it was bloody gross. All food waste had to be wrapped up in newspaper so by the time it came to collection even though it was weekly it was a stinking mouldy mess. And the bin would often be in a gut wrenching state. The town next to us where we lived previously had a similar service but as we were in a flat weren't elligable but they provided bio degradable bags to put your food waste in. A lot nicer

But as times gone on their is very little food wastage. We shop weekly. We have a list before we go and we plan our meals for the week and only buy off the list. We cook in bulk so a lot of stuff or extra portions are frozen. And any veg that's on it's last legs gets chopped n frozen to use at a later date

Do you throw away much food at home? Where does the food waste go? Do you have a kitchen caddy and compost bin?

We score very badly here but in our defence we are a large family of 9 poeple and I never know if some of our older members will eat or will want seconds or will be out. So we do throw away cooked fruit and sometimes veg in the fridge that I've forgotton about. And no I don't use caddy or compost bin

• Does your local council offer a food waste collection service?

I have no idea but couldn't envisage keeping smelly rotten food somewhere for a once weekly collection service as that would smell too bad

• What are the main reasons or circumstances that you throw food away?

Explained above

• Of food you throw away, is it mainly cooked or uncooked food?

Maily cooked

• If you don't throw away much food, how do you manage to keep waste to a minimum?

|On good weeks I menu plan vociferously or under cook and pad it out with tinned veg like sweetcorn or put up a quick rice if potatoes no longer look enough

• How do you or how do you think you could make the most of the food that would otherwise be put in the bin?

Recipes for lefotvers probably

• Have you got any great ideas for wasting less food?

Menu plan and also recipe books for leftovers - there is a great marketing idea

• Have you got any top money-saving tips that also help you to throw away less food?

Only the above

• Did you know that tea bags can be put into your local council food waste collection (if you have one) or composted at home?

No I didn't

If I throw food away, it tends to be fruit or uncooked vegetables that have gone bad. Either stuff that has been hiding in the fridge and I didn't see or, in the case of fruit, stuff that I optimistically purchase forgetting I don't actually eat a lot of fruit by itself. I can't remember ever throwing cooked stuff away.

I think meal planning and cooking the right amounts is crucial to wasting less food.

tbh, I worry more about excess food packaging than food waste because that's something I largely don't have control over.

Oh and yes, we compost and have a compost bin in the kitchen we can just put stuff straight into. I know you can put teabags in. No council collection.

I do have a couple of recipes for fruit that is on the edge of going bad, like over ripe bananas.

• Do you throw away much food at home? Where does the food waste go? Do you have a kitchen caddy and compost bin? Hardly any. I have a kitchen caddy (well, I didn't like the council one so I bought a posh version. Saddo me) and I put in onion skins, tea and coffee and the only scraps that won't be eaten by a dustbin-dog or a rabbit. So not many.

• Does your local council offer a food waste collection service?

Yes, green bin every second week. It goes in with garden waste.

• What are the main reasons or circumstances that you throw food away?
  Yoghurts . The best deals are for 12s and they go out of date. Or we just don't finish something - for eg some houmous, as we don't fancy it two days running and it doesn't keep.

• Of food you throw away, is it mainly cooked or uncooked food?
  About the same, not much of either

• If you don't throw away much food, how do you manage to keep waste to a minimum?
  Meal planning, above mentioned dustbin dog. Taking leftovers for lunch.

• How do you or how do you think you could make the most of the food that would otherwise be put in the bin?
  I don't know - I'm already very conscious of it.

• Have you got any great ideas for wasting less food?
  Meal plan, take leftovers for lunches. Buy tupperware!

• Have you got any top money-saving tips that also help you to throw away less food?
  Meal plan, take leftovers for lunches . Freeze surplus. Have 'consolidation' meals where you bung whatever is left into a new dish. So pasta bake can go in a stew, all elderly veg in a soup etc.

• Did you know that tea bags can be put into your local council food waste collection (if you have one) or composted at home?

Sure did.

We waste far far less food than we used to by meal planning then getting an ocado delivery every 4 days.

Do you throw away much food at home? Where does the food waste go? Do you have a kitchen caddy and compost bin?
Yes

• Does your local council offer a food waste collection service? Yes
• What are the main reasons or circumstances that you throw food away? Kids not finishing their meals, or cooked too much.
• Of food you throw away, is it mainly cooked or uncooked food? Cooked
• If you don't throw away much food, how do you manage to keep waste to a minimum? Leftovers are used for lunch the next day - I bag it up and take it to work. Also I freeze left over gravy, mash etc for adding to other meals
• How do you or how do you think you could make the most of the food that would otherwise be put in the bin? See above
• Have you got any great ideas for wasting less food? Menu planning
• Have you got any top money-saving tips that also help you to throw away less food? Menu planning
• Did you know that tea bags can be put into your local council food waste collection (if you have one) or composted at home? Oh yes. And coffee grounds.

Do you throw away much food at home? Where does the food waste go? Do you have a kitchen caddy and compost bin?

We throw away far too much here, although a fair bit is leftovers from toddlers. It goes into our general waste bin.

• Does your local council offer a food waste collection service?

No, and I'm not sure I would use it if they did.

• What are the main reasons or circumstances that you throw food away?

Mostly, I have cooked too much and forget to put leftovers in the freezer or I have no room in the freezer for it. Or it has been a really busy day / week at work and i am too tired to cook.

• Of food you throw away, is it mainly cooked or uncooked food?

probably 50 / 50 depending on the week.

• How do you or how do you think you could make the most of the food that would otherwise be put in the bin?

get a bigger freezer!

I have found that by not shopping at supermarkets but doing regular little local shops during the week saves waste. I can plan meals for the next few days or just pick up the perishable food like veg I need for that day. Doing massive shops means its really difficult to plan ahead and using the stuff up at the back of the fridge before it goes off is more of a challenge.

I know how I'm going to use leftovers before I start cooking a big meal. So if its a roast I will have planned soup or a pie in advance for next day. We couldn't afford to throw food away when we can get another family meal out of it.

I have family that cook huge meals to show off and seem to take actual pride in how much gets chucked in the bin afterwards, it makes me so sad. Also makes me want to raid the bin on the way home whenever we go there!

I am also quite meh about use by dates for most things and completely ignore best before dates.

Here are some questions to get you started - all views welcome:

• Do you throw away much food at home? Where does the food waste go? Do you have a kitchen caddy and compost bin?
  I try not to but inevitably some food is wasted weekly. We use a kitchen caddy.

• Does your local council offer a food waste collection service?
  Yes

• What are the main reasons or circumstances that you throw food away?
  Food past expiry date

• Of food you throw away, is it mainly cooked or uncooked food?
  Uncooked

• If you don't throw away much food, how do you manage to keep waste to a minimum?
  Frequent shops rather than a large weekly shop

• How do you or how do you think you could make the most of the food that would otherwise be put in the bin?

• Have you got any great ideas for wasting less food?
  Would be great if supermarkets sold food in a variety of package sizes. E.g only my son eats cooked chicken breast, and never in sufficient quantities to finish the pack within 3 days of opening

• Have you got any top money-saving tips that also help you to throw away less food?

• Did you know that tea bags can be put into your local council food waste collection (if you have one) or composted at home?
  Yes

Here are some questions to get you started - all views welcome:

• Do you throw away much food at home? Where does the food waste go? Do you have a kitchen caddy and compost bin?
  We hardly throw any food waste. We have dogs and we compost peeling etc

• Does your local council offer a food waste collection service?
  No

• What are the main reasons or circumstances that you throw food away?
  Last scrapings of meal that dogs cant eat

• Of food you throw away, is it mainly cooked or uncooked food?
  Cooked

• If you don't throw away much food, how do you manage to keep waste to a minimum?
  Buy really good quality veg with long life, soup everything nearing it's end, eat things in the fridge before buying more, buy little and often. Don't do BOGOFs

• How do you or how do you think you could make the most of the food that would otherwise be put in the bin?
  soup, freeze, gratin veg...feed to hungry pooches

• Have you got any great ideas for wasting less food?
  Don't buy so much. Sounds simple, but if you don't know which meal it is going to be for, don't buy it. Small quantities of EXCITING fruit get eaten much quicker than large quantities of apples, oranges etc

• Have you got any top money-saving tips that also help you to throw away less food?
  don't buy so much !

• Did you know that tea bags can be put into your local council food waste collection (if you have one) or composted at home?
  Ours go in the compost bin

Do you throw away much food at home? Where does the food waste go? Do you have a kitchen caddy and compost bin? Food waste goes into a compost bin which is collected by the council
Does your local council offer a food waste collection service? Yes
What are the main reasons or circumstances that you throw food away Bad planning on my part
Of food you throw away, is it mainly cooked or uncooked food? Mainly peelings and stale bread
If you don't throw away much food, how do you manage to keep waste to a minimum? Making soup from leftover veg , I use a serving dish so everyone helps themselves to how much veg they want
How do you or how do you think you could make the most of the food that would otherwise be put in the bin? Feed it to the chickens ! They love cooked potato !
Have you got any great ideas for wasting less food? Don't buy so much , meal plan and be sensible
Have you got any top money-saving tips that also help you to throw away less food? As above
Did you know that tea bags can be put into your local council food waste collection (if you have one) or composted at home? Yes

• Do you throw away much food at home? Where does the food waste go? Do you have a kitchen caddy and compost bin?
  I throw away a fair bit of the food left on my children's plates (they are 4 and 1). It goes into a kitchen caddy and then into the food waste bin outside, which is collected weekly along with other rubbish, recycling etc. We don't have a garden, so no compost bin for us.

• Does your local council offer a food waste collection service? Yes

• What are the main reasons or circumstances that you throw food away?
  Children have not eaten all their food, 1 year old has thrown food on the floor/poured drink over it/generally reduced it to inedible mess.
  Or have forgotten about something at the back of the fridge and it has gone off (though since we have bought a larger fridge this happens less, as things less likely to get hidden at the back)

• Of food you throw away, is it mainly cooked or uncooked food? Mainly cooked.

• If you don't throw away much food, how do you manage to keep waste to a minimum?
  Although I throw away food that my children haven't eaten, I manage to reduce waste well in other areas - I serve out small portions(you can always get seconds) which means extra food left over hasn't been on plates/ chewed by a 4 year old, and so can be put in the fridge and eaten at a later meal. I use lots of airtight plastic containers to store leftovers, and we try to have a meal using leftovers regularly.

• How do you or how do you think you could make the most of the food that would otherwise be put in the bin? Try and plan meals carefully so everything gets used up quickly, and you don't end up with scraps lurking in the fridge for weeks on end before they just get thrown away.

• Have you got any great ideas for wasting less food? I shop daily, little and often, especially for things like fruit. I used to find that I'd buy a big bag of apples or something and then only a couple would get eaten before everyone decided they wanted a change. So now we stop off and buy fruit and bread for the day on the way home from school, it gets eaten straight away and doesn't hang around going soft.

• Have you got any top money-saving tips that also help you to throw away less food?

• Did you know that tea bags can be put into your local council food waste collection (if you have one) or composted at home? Yes!

• Do you throw away much food at home? Where does the food waste go? Do you have a kitchen caddy and compost bin?

We have a food bin, with biogradable liners. We do throw away vegetables that start going mouldy - other than that we try not to throw much food away but its amazing how quickly the scraps and other food detritus (egg shells, tea bags etc) from a meal add up and fill the food bin.

• Does your local council offer a food waste collection service?

Yes - introduced last year. They told us we couldnt use liners at first and the bin was DISGUSTING - I had to bleach it on a fortnightly basis. Apparently not many people in the borough were using them so they had to relent and agree to letting people use biodegradable liners (thank god) and they are being used more. It seems to be collected on a daily basis.

• What are the main reasons or circumstances that you throw food away?

Leftovers from kids or if vegetables/fruit go off.

• Of food you throw away, is it mainly cooked or uncooked food?

Mostly cooked (if kids leave items/drop things)

• If you don't throw away much food, how do you manage to keep waste to a minimum?ÿ

We have a council run food collection service.

It is collected weekly and we usually have about 1 bag in there.

We don't waste a lot of food. It mostly consists of veg peelings, tea bags and things the baby has decided to tthrow on the floor.

Great topic, and something close to my heart.

Do you throw away much food at home? No, we have very little food to throw away, just scraps, peelings etc Where does the food waste go? in food compost bin or to my chickens Do you have a kitchen caddy and compost bin? yes*

Does your local council offer a food waste collection service? yes*

What are the main reasons or circumstances that you throw food away? Occasional forgetfulness of what is in the fridge or the fruitbowl, but it's rare*

Of food you throw away, is it mainly cooked or uncooked food? cooked, but very little, as chickens love it! Our chickens definitely lay more eggs when we are regularly giving them scraps*

If you don't throw away much food, how do you manage to keep waste to a minimum? meal planning, meal planning, meal planning. Bulk cook and freeze, always apply leftovers to some useful purpose*

How do you or how do you think you could make the most of the food that would otherwise be put in the bin? there is so little that I don't think we could do much more*

Have you got any great ideas for wasting less food? Meal Plan!!! And portion control. Think ahead as to what leftovers could be used for, or if can be frozen, and do it promptly*

Have you got any top money-saving tips that also help you to throw away less food? we run a chest freezer so can bulk buy, bulk make and only take out of the freezer what we need. Bulk buy = discounted food, bulk making = less time and fuel to make several meals at once*

Did you know that tea bags can be put into your local council food waste collection (if you have one) or composted at home? YES!!!!!!* (please tell me no one has said "no" to this one?!)

Do you throw away much food at home? Where does the food waste go? Do you have a kitchen caddy and compost bin? I throw away as little as possible. When I do, it's down to poor planning. I use my next door neighbour's compost bin.

Does your local council offer a food waste collection service? No

What are the main reasons or circumstances that you throw food away? When my meal planning fails!

Of food you throw away, is it mainly cooked or uncooked food? Cooked.

If you don't throw away much food, how do you manage to keep waste to a minimum? I meal plan. Eat leftover dinner for lunch the following day.

How do you or how do you think you could make the most of the food that would otherwise be put in the bin? I plan food purchases and meal plan - it's what really works for me.

Have you got any great ideas for wasting less food? Meal plan [hsmile] Eat leftovers. Take inventory of fridge and cupboards before grocery shopping. I plan meals from the ingredients I have at home.

Have you got any top money-saving tips that also help you to throw away less food? Meal plan I tend to buy food as I need it, rather than weekly shops.

Did you know that tea bags can be put into your local council food waste collection (if you have one) or composted at home? Yes, I compost.

Do you throw away much food at home? Where does the food waste go?
Yes, we throw away too much food. We have a food bin that is collected weekly

Do you have a kitchen caddy and compost bin?
Yes to kitchen caddy. No room for a compost bin.

Does your local council offer a food waste collection service?
Yes

What are the main reasons or circumstances that you throw food away?
More and more I'm finding that esp fruit and veg is not fit for use even a day or two after purchase. Moldy tomatoes, green potatoes, mince that's off well before it's use-by date. I can only assume that this is down to in-store storage.

Of food you throw away, is it mainly cooked or uncooked food?
Uncooked.

If you don't throw away much food, how do you manage to keep waste to a minimum?
n/a

How do you or how do you think you could make the most of the food that would otherwise be put in the bin?
I'm not sure - it would be great if we had room for composting. Per

Have you got any great ideas for wasting less food?
It would be helpful if bags of fruit/veg in the supermarket were smaller. Our local one only sells some things in multiples, when I only need 1 or 2. If I could buy loose produce I would waste less (the farm shop near us has recently closed down, or I'd buy from there)

Have you got any top money-saving tips that also help you to throw away less food?
Nope.

Did you know that tea bags can be put into your local council food waste collection (if you have one) or composted at home?
Yes.

Do you throw away much food at home? Where does the food waste go? Do you have a kitchen caddy and compost bin?
Very little, because I'm tight & I can't bear food / money going to waste Quite a bit of our waste food (peelings) gets eaten by the rabbit & guinea pigs. No, I don't have a food caddy, but yes, I do have a compost bin.

• Does your local council offer a food waste collection service?
  No

• What are the main reasons or circumstances that you throw food away?
  Very occasionally something will go bad, or it is the leftovers on plates

• Of food you throw away, is it mainly cooked or uncooked food?
  Tiny bit of both

• If you don't throw away much food, how do you manage to keep waste to a minimum?
  Simple, we eat the food I buy!

• How do you or how do you think you could make the most of the food that would otherwise be put in the bin?
  Eat it!

• Have you got any great ideas for wasting less food?
  Eat it!

• Have you got any top money-saving tips that also help you to throw away less food?
  Eat it

• Did you know that tea bags can be put into your local council food waste collection (if you have one) or composted at home?
  Yes. Surely all vegetable matter can be composted!

Do you throw away much food at home? Where does the food waste go?
Not as much as we used to when the DC were small, and I now have a monthly meal planner and that has helped me buy less, so less goes off. Food waste goes into a kitchen caddy, we have food recycling weekly through the council (Richmond)

Do you have a kitchen caddy and compost bin?
Yes to the first

Does your local council offer a food waste collection service?
Yes, weekly

What are the main reasons or circumstances that you throw food away?
Into our recycling goes peelings, egg shells, left overs (not much) just last night put in a chicken carcass as they can do bones as well.Occasionally I find something manky at the back of the fridge.

Of food you throw away, is it mainly cooked or uncooked food?
Both

If you don't throw away much food, how do you manage to keep waste to a minimum?
We stick to a meal planner which equals more focussed shopping! Online is better, but avoiding BOGOFS and special offers which push you to buy more. Weekly shopping now, more frequently but less of it. Used to buy in bulk and throw away in bulk.

How do you or how do you think you could make the most of the food that would otherwise be put in the bin?
If we had a bigger garden I would compost it. Using up leftovers to make other stuf but I am a shite cook so this is doomed really

Have you got any great ideas for wasting less food?
Definitely the meal planner, we buy less too.

Have you got any top money-saving tips that also help you to throw away less food?
The meal planner again, avoid BOGOFs and special offers because you buy too much. Shop weekly.

Did you know that tea bags can be put into your local council food waste collection (if you have one) or composted at home?
Yes, although my mum used to put them around certain plants in the garden as apparently some liked tea She was a very successful gardener so I'm sure they did really!!

Do you throw away much food at home? Where does the food waste go? Do you have a kitchen caddy and compost bin? We hardly ever throw food away. We buy very little pre-prepared food which has sell-by dates, and mostly use frsh veg, meat etc, not ready meals. We meal plan roughly and buy the right amount for the week, and anything that doesn't get used gets frozen before it's use by date, or made into soup, or eaten as leftvers instead of a new meal. We do have a compost bin, but it is now stuffed to overflowing, there is a limit to how much compost a small inner-city garden can absorb.
Does your local council offer a food waste collection service? No. (Lambeth)
What are the main reasons or circumstances that you throw food away? If we go out unexpectedly so a leftover meal doesn't get eaten and I feel it is probably getting a bit dodgy. We are not too bound by tradition - DP will eat leftover meals for breakfast, we don't make a fuss about 'but we had that yesterday, can't eat the same thing twice' - all factors which cause my parents, for example, to be more wasteful than u.
Of food you throw away, is it mainly cooked or uncooked food? Cooked.
If you don't throw away much food, how do you manage to keep waste to a minimum? As above: planning (though we are not 'down to the last detail on this), keeping an eye on use by dates and being quick to freeze anything we won't eat - like a pizza, or a packet of mince or chicken, eating leftovers, not being fussy, taking leftovers to work for packed lunch, just basically seeing food as an expensive, valuable resource and treating it with care and respect!
How do you or how do you think you could make the most of the food that would otherwise be put in the bin? By the time it goes n our bin it has had the most made of it!
Have you got any great ideas for wasting less food? Mentally I translate what i am chucking away into cash value.
Have you got any top money-saving tips that also help you to throw away less food? Make good use pof the freezer - but that is a bit obvious!
Did you know that tea bags can be put into your local council food waste collection (if you have one) or composted at home? Yes.

Do you throw away much food at home? Where does the food waste go? Do you have a kitchen caddy and compost bin? We throw some food waste away, but find that we throw away much less since having the kitchen food caddy bin.

Does your local council offer a food waste collection service? Yes, we have a curbside collection, once a week which is great.

What are the main reasons or circumstances that you throw food away? We throw skins, shells, peelings etc and sometimes if something doesn't smell right I'll dispose of it.

Of food you throw away, is it mainly cooked or uncooked food? Mainly cooked leftovers.

If you don't throw away much food, how do you manage to keep waste to a minimum? Only buying what we need, not buying the 2for1 or buy one get one free offers because you very rarely use all the produce. Putting less on the plates.

How do you or how do you think you could make the most of the food that would otherwise be put in the bin? not cooking as much, freezing half of what I make, eg a chilli, or spag bol.

Have you got any great ideas for wasting less food? less food on plates, only buying what you need.

Have you got any top money-saving tips that also help you to throw away less food? buy less meat make the vegetables stretch further.

Did you know that tea bags can be put into your local council food waste collection (if you have one) or composted at home? yep, I always put teabags in my caddy bin.

Do you throw away much food at home?
No we try to be strict about using up food within use by dates and cooking/serving what we will actually eat
Where does the food waste go?
Guinea Pigs eat the veg and fruit peelings, any non meat waste on the compost heap and anything else goes in the bin
Do you have a kitchen caddy and compost bin?
Compost bin
We have

• Does your local council offer a food waste collection service?
  Yes

• What are the main reasons or circumstances that you throw food away?
  Leftover food on plates, veg peelings

• Of food you throw away, is it mainly cooked or uncooked food?
  About the same of both

• If you don't throw away much food, how do you manage to keep waste to a minimum?
  Only cook and serve what we need and will actually eat. * How do you or how do you think you could make the most of the food that would otherwise be put in the bin?

• Have you got any great ideas for wasting less food?
  Dont serve huge portions on plates so that we can either have seconds or save the leftovers to be reheated for another meal - if it has been on the plates and left it cant be reused

• Have you got any top money-saving tips that also help you to throw away less food?
  Only buy what we need and know we will eat - meal planning helps. Always freeze meat unless it is going to be used that day

• Did you know that tea bags can be put into your local council food waste collection (if you have one) or composted at home?
  yes

Do you throw away much food at home? Where does the food waste go? Do you have a kitchen caddy and compost bin?
Yes we have a kitchen caddy to put fruit veg waste in before it's put in the compost bin. We throw away very little as I try to put all leftovers towards something else.

• Does your local council offer a food waste collection service?
  In some areas, but not ours

• What are the main reasons or circumstances that you throw food away?
  Food left on plates and veg that perishes before being used (not much though)

• Of food you throw away, is it mainly cooked or uncooked food?
  About the same I think

• If you don't throw away much food, how do you manage to keep waste to a minimum?
  Reusing leftovers, thrifty cooking

• How do you or how do you think you could make the most of the food that would otherwise be put in the bin?

• Have you got any great ideas for wasting less food?
  Meal planning

• Have you got any top money-saving tips that also help you to throw away less food?

• Did you know that tea bags can be put into your local council food waste collection (if you have one) or composted at home?
  Yes, they go into our compost bin

I think people need to be far more careful about what and how much they buy and more aware of the implications of large amounts of wasted food

My DB apparently created a "Best Before Date App". Looks like he should advertise on Mumsnet.