Each Parisian wastes nearly 26kg of still packaged and edible food every year.

 

That figure represents nearly three times the waste seen elsewhere France.

 

So why are Parisians chucking away so much food? Is it because the capital's famously image conscious residents are looking after their waistlines more than elsewhere in France?

 

Not quite. Experts say it seems to be down to their love of eating out.

 

Photo: AFP

 

“Parisians are more likely to eat in restaurants and have a habit of forgetting the products they have at home,” said Antoinette Guhl, who is in charge of waste prevention and recycling efforts at Paris City Hall.

 

“And contrary to other big cities in the world, they also aren't really in the habit of taking home leftovers from restaurants in doggy bags”, she told CNews. 

 

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“This is an ethical aberration when compared with the 16 percent of Parisians living below the poverty line, as well as an economical and ecological one.”

 

And there's a significant benefit to Parisians paying more attention to what they have in their fridges.

 

Apparently, if people living in the French capital consumed more sensibly and threw away less of the food, they would save around €400 per household per year. 

 

And the benefit to the environment is clear with waste being a huge emitter of greenhouse gasses.

 

City Hall in Paris doesn't need convincing.

 

Facing 59,000 tonnes of annual waste in Paris, and having launched a campaign against the phenomenon 2015, the city's authorities continued its efforts on anti-waste day on Monday. 

 

Representatives were present at 25 supermarkets at markets in the city in the hope of raising awareness among the capital's residents. 

 

As part of the campaign, 52,000 City Hall representatives presented an anti-food waste lunch menu, and in the 19th arrondissement a chef was teaching people how to cook without wasting food, with unsold foodstuff and “ugly vegetables”. 

 

But Paris isn't the only city that has come up with innovative ways to tackle its food waste problem.

 

In 2016, The Local reported on TakeAway, a doggy bag company set up students which they said helped restaurants save 82,800kg of food from ending up in la poubelle.