Food waste is an entrenched practice with harmful ecological, economic and social consequences. Across the entire food life-cycle – from production and distribution to retail, preparation, and post-consumption – unsustainable levels of food is discarded every year. Food waste generates greenhouse gases, depletes dwindling resources, exacerbates global hunger, accelerates biodiversity loss and land degradation, and costs an estimated $1 trillion annually.

Although efforts to mitigate the problem of food waste have advanced, across different scales and sectors, the practice remains a persistent feature of ‘throwaway societies’. This seminar explores the innovations, challenges and opportunities associated with driving down food waste in Bristol, focusing on the technical, economic, political, and cultural drivers behind both the problem and its solutions.