WHAT A WASTE

HUGH’S WAR ON WASTE: THE BATTLE CONTINUES (BBC ONE, 9PM)

PICTURE the scene: you’re at your local coffee shop ordering a memory card for your camera and food from the supermarket.

After guzzling an over-priced latte, you throw the container away, assuming Costabucks will do the right thing and recycle it.

You get home, and because you ordered express delivery, both your camera card and shopping arrive within minutes of you walking through the door. Though the memory card is the size of a postage stamp, you wonder why there’s enough packaging to fill a dustbin.

Such modestly sized goods with over-the-top wrapping have clearly been getting on the nerves of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.

He thinks it’s about time companies such as Amazon addressed the issue, and in this follow-up to last November’s two-part documentary, he continues his mission to reduce the amount of waste in the UK.

HFF is also on the case of wasteful caffeine dealers.

We get through 2.5 billion cardboard coffee cups every year in the United Kingdom, and Hugh is stunned when he finds out 99 percent of them are sent to landfill or incineration.

So that’s good. Hugh’s on the case. We can rest easy as we set about editing our fridge to accommodate the latest delivery of food and condiments.

Alas, that box of mushrooms in the fridge gets binned because they either look a bit bruised or are a few seconds passed their sell by date. And compared to that brand new carton that’s just arrived, they can’t compete in the veg beauty contest.

According to figures quoted in this programme, the average family disposes of £700 worth of food every year and Fearnley-- Whittingstall thinks it’s high time that came to an end.

Of course it’s not just consumers that throw money down the drain when it comes to veg.

At a parsnip farm in Norfolk, Hugh discovers how any slightly imperfect fruit or vegetables will be rejected because of strict cosmetic standards imposed by the supermarkets.

Talking of which, the triple-barrelled cook also confronts shoppers in a supermarket, armed with a wheelie bin, and attempts to take their shopping off them before they have even left the store.

Talk about food for thought.