READY-made shopping lists were handed out to families at one of York's supermarkets in a bid to help reduce the amount of waste that is thrown away.

City of York Council's Waste and Recycling team descended on Asda on Monks cross yesterday, Thursday to share tips about how people can reduce the amount of food waste they produce.

The event, billed as love food and hate waste', was part of a national campaign to reduce the amount of rubbish going to landfill.

The team dished out recipe suggestions and ready-made shopping lists, free tea towels and advice about the best way to store food to make it last longer.

Erin Gardiner, from the council's waste and recycling team, said: "Most people tend to buy more food than they need and then end up throwing it out before they can use it. We bin nearly £3 billion worth of perfectly good fruit and vegetables each year and a third of the food we buy - 6.7 million tonnes - gets thrown out from UK homes annually.

"By simply storing most fresh fruit and vegetables inside the fridge, these foods stay fresh for much longer - sometimes by as much as a fortnight, so you can save money and waste less too."