The Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA) is supporting and promoting the campaign led by the Oxfordshire County Council and encouraging folks in the foodservice industry to provide free doggy bags in efforts to cut down on food waste.

Except instead of the classic foam container in a paper bag — they’re providing environmentally friendly, biodegradable boxes.

Biopac, a Worcestershire packaging company, is a huge part of this UK campaign to reduce food waste in restaurants. Having produced a compostable box called Take Me Home, they’re now playing a key role in a food waste reduction campaign that’s been picked up by the Too Good To Waste initiative — launched by the SRA.

For this campaign, Biopac distributed 25,000 boxes across Oxfordshire.

How does the modern doggy bag help with food waste?

Well, the SRA has completed some research and found that the average restaurant throws out 21 tonnes of food a year — a third of that waste apparently comes from leftovers on the dinner plate.

The managing director of the SRA, Mark Linehan said: “These simple recycled, compostable boxes, provide the perfect means to deliver a simple message, transport a tasty meal, and help restaurants to throw away less food.”

This concept works off the idea of bringing home your leftovers instead of letting it end up in the restaurant’s garbage bin — and focuses to encourage consumers to finish consuming.

More about the Too Good To Waste initiative

The first campaign the SRA ran for the Too Good To Waste initiative happened back in 2011 in London. This was after the realization that 21 tonnes of food a year becomes food waste.

Encouraging folks to take home a box of their unfinished meal to consume later is a simple but effective way to save food with destinies in a landfill.

 

Businesses can take our free Interactive Energy Audit.

 

Image credit: biopac.co.uk