Fight food waste and save 19,000 meals

A huge 19,120 edible meals end up in the bin every day from restaurants all over Brighton and Hove according to findings from the online marketplace for surplus food Too Good To Go.

The company, which advertises cheap surplus food from the city's eateries, said if these meals were saved from landfill it would be the same as taking eight cars off the road every day.

To date, Brighton residents have rescued over 12,000 meals from over 30 food retailers in the city including Moshimo, Real Patisserie, Dum Dum Donuts and Yo! Sushi via the free Too Good To Go app; preventing the same amount of CO2 as growing 622 trees for 10 years.

To celebrate this achievement, the Too Good To Go team are refunding anyone who rescues a meal in Brighton via the app on Stop Food Waste Day this Friday.

The Too Good To Go Team will also be at Churchill Square from 10am on the day, so passers-by can learn about the food waste revolution and pick up some tasty treats.

Resident James Denis, a regular waste warrior at independent sushi shop Moshimo, said: “It’s great food at a great price and it’s so local. Food waste is something we need to combat and to be able to get this fresh food when you’re feeling a bit peckish, is amazing!”

Moshimo has saved nearly 5,000 meals from landfill since joining Too Good To Go in May 2016. This is equivalent to avoiding 4,632 KG of CO2 - the same amount of CO2 produced by the average household in 414 days.

The Real Patisserie chain joined the app in November 2017, and has saved over 3,000 meals which equates to 5,970 KG of CO2 emissions avoided. That’s the same amount of CO2 produced by an average household's electricity for 533 days.

More than 935 unique customers have rescued their food, one of them being Marika Mussell who said: “I hate things going to waste and in these high quality stores it’s such a shame. On a Thursday, for £2.50, I get a loaf of bread and a few nice little treats so it’s the perfect start to my weekend!”

Jamie Crummie, co-founder of Too Good To Go said: “More than an easy way to get delicious food, Too Good To Go is a catalyst to changing mindsets. What we perceive to be waste often isn't actually “waste” at all - it's perfectly good food that gets thrown away because it wasn’t sold.

"If every store in Brighton and Hove joined the platform and everyone living here rescued just one meal a month through Too Good To Go, there would be no retail food waste in Brighton - imagine that!”

The app operates in eight countries and has saved over 3.9m meals globally. Brighton was the first UK city the app launched in.

Find out more about Too Good To Go, visit: www.toogoodtogo.co.uk