A new survey commissioned by Aldi has found that the average Irish shopper loses €400 a year due to food wastage.
According to the survey carried out by Ignite Research, just 13% of people never dispose of unused food.
People are most likely to throw away fruit and vegetables (44%), followed by baked goods and bread (28%), dairy (15%) and fresh meat (14%).
To tie in with the survey, Aldi has teamed up with FoodCloud to donate 500,000 meals to 172 charity partners this year.
FoodCloud is a not-for-profigt company that connects businesses with local charities to make the best use of food that would otherwise go to waste.
The platform will allow Aldi staff from its 71 stores across the country to upload details of their surplus, with charities then notified by text that food is available.
FoodCloud co-founder and CEO Iseault Ward said:
"In Ireland, we waste one million tonnes of food every year and at the same time, 1 in 8 people suffer from food poverty.
"FoodCloud’s efficient and effective solution provides an opportunity for businesses and charities within communities to work together to make sure no good food goes to waste.
"The new research shows just how much money is lost each week by households through food wastage.
"Our new national partnership with Aldi will hugely increase the scale and the number of charities we can help each day, making an incredible difference to local communities".
