Hugh is on a mission to change the way we think about waste, by challenging the supermarkets and fast food industry to drastically reduce the amount of waste they generate.
We live in a country where one third of the food we produce never gets eaten and the average household bins £700 worth of food a year. Hugh believes that something needs to be done.
At our River Cottage Canteens, we are proud to announce that we sent absolutely nothing to landfill. Read more here.
River Cottage HQ head chef, Gelf Alderson said: "We don’t have any food waste – even peelings go back into the compost to grow our veg. We operate on a zero to landfill policy. Making sure we have enough food for the future and looking after our planet is so important, and reducing food waste is a part of that."
At River Cottage HQ we are passionate about teaching life skills aimed at making use of seasonal ingredients, growing in abundance around us. Our courses always include ways to utilise thrifty ingredients and helpful tips and ideas to cut down on food waste. Each course is specifically designed to not only teach a new skill, like bread making, but also how to source, store and reduce your waste. You can see our range of waste busting cookery courses here.
Hugh's done a great job highlighting the staggering size of our waste problem. There are also charities, social enterprises, organisations and individuals running projects across the UK and our friends at Crowdfunder are using their platform to support them.
For example, The Real Junk Food Project Brighton raised over £16,000 to launch a pay as you feel cafe that legally intercepts food (waste) from supermarkets, restaurants and other sources, transforming it into healthy, nutritious meals that are served to the local community on a pay-as-you-feel basis
Crowdfunder have already helped fund over £100,000s of projects tackling food waste. If you've got an idea to tackle waste in your local area, or already have an organisation up and running you can start your own project on Crowdfunder. Or check out some of the inspiring projects that are live and funding.
Armed with a wheelie bin, Hugh confronts ordinary shoppers in a supermarket. He’s going to try and take their shopping off them before they’ve even left the store - if they’re only going to throw it away later in the week, why not save them the bother of even taking it home?
*Offer is only available on courses £195 and up. Offer excludes £135 courses. Does not apply to bespoke course bookings of food fair classes. Offer not to be used in conjunction with any other offer. This offer cannot be transferred. Cancellation booking conditions apply.
Find out more about some of Hugh's campaigns.