The figures come from the government’s Waste & Resources Action Programme which says that we threw away 8.3m tonnes of food in 2007 but only 7.2m tonnes last year.

However, that is still enough waste food to fill Wembley Stadium right up to the roof.

However, even with this reduction a fifth of all food purchased is still currently wasted – of which 60% is fit for consumption! And with Christmas just around the corner it is estimated that families will bin around 230,000 tonnes of food over the festive period.

Greenhouse gas emissions, associated with the manufacture, distribution, storage, use and disposal of wasted food, are still at a worrying 17 million tonnes.