Ditch food waste, not festive cheer

What you can do

• Plan before you shop: our celebrations are likely to be smaller this year, so we won’t need to buy so much.
• Use up any leftovers with these great Christmas leftover recipes.
• Check who likes sprouts: this divisive vegetable is amongst the most wasted with a total of 7 million thrown away every year across the UK! 
• Try using apps like Olio to share extra food with your neighbours and local community.
• Support local or organic farmers where possible. Organic farming is good for nature, providing habitats for more species than conventional farming. 
• Minimise packaging by taking your own bags to the shop and buying loose fruits and vegetables. 

What Sutton Council is doing

We’ve teamed up with Sutton businesses to share any leftover or surplus food with local families whose children go to Sutton schools and are eligible for Free School Meals. 

We've increased food collections to weekly over the past few years for most residents, and we’ll continue collecting food waste over the Christmas period, but not on bank holidays. Use our postcode tool to check when your collections will happen over the festive period.

How this affects the climate emergency

Reducing food waste reduces carbon emissions: food production and preparation generates 30% of the world’s CO₂ greenhouse gas levels. In Sutton, food waste from your brown caddy is processed to create clean energy and compost; so putting anything that can’t be eaten in the correct bin helps to tackle the climate emergency.