Chips, our most chucked-away takeaway

THEY regularly top the polls as the nation’s favourite fast food, but it appears there is such a thing as too many chips.

A study has revealed they are the most wasted takeaway food, with the majority of people saying they prefer to ditch old ones rather than eat them later.

Seventy-two per cent of people surveyed by delivery service Just Eat said they always had chips left over, with just over half saying portions were too big.

But rather than a waste not, want not approach, most customers said they simply ditched the excess because they either couldn’t stomach day-old chips or weren’t sure if it was safe to reheat them.

Research from the Sustainable

Restaurant Association has found that £1.8billion of takeaway food is thrown away every year in the UK.

As part of the second annual Food Waste Action Week, which begins tomorrow, restaurants are being challenged to begin offering smaller chip portion sizes – at a lower price – in a bid to tackle food waste.

The initiative comes from the charity Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP), which says the UK’s most wasted food item is the potato, with 4.4million wasted every day. The Mail on Sunday’s War on Food Waste campaign has been calling on households to cut food waste by 30 per cent. It would save families an average £160 a year and have the same impact on carbon emissions as taking two million cars off the road.

Robin Clark, senior director of global partnerships, sponsorships and sustainability at Just Eat, said: ‘Food waste is one of the greatest issues of our generation. With 60,000 restaurants on the Just Eat platform in the UK, we know that we have a role to play.’

To make the most of leftover chips, use a paper towel or salt to remove moisture and then fry them in a hot pan with oil, or grill them, making sure you regularly turn them so they don’t burn.