Laura Tobin has shared a number of shocking statistics about food waste in the UK as she revealed that the average British family throw away an average of six full meals a week.
The Good Morning Britain star, 40, shared the concerning figures in her brand new book on climate change - Every Day Ways To Save Our Planet.
In recent years, the ITV star has been a huge advocate for eco-friendly and sustainable living.
Throughout the pages of her informative new book, Laura has shared hundreds of hacks and tips in a bid to encourage others to make small changes in their daily life routines in order to help save the planet.
And one of her biggest concerns is food waste - and the detrimental effects that it has on the planet as a whole.
"Alarmingly, UK households throw away an average of six meals a week," Laura explained in her book.
"Yes, some of it is peelings and scraps, but a lot is made up of food that's gone past its best, food we don't like, and leftovers that we decide we don't want.
"Food waste alone produces more than 10% of all global greenhouse gas emissions (which is four times more than flying). This is because when food ends up in a landfill, it releases harmful methane gas into the environment, something not many of us think about when we're scraping food off our plates.
"But it's not just greenhouse gas emissions from rotting food we need to think about here - throwing all that food away is a waste of all resources needed to grow, transport, package and cook it."
Laura went on to encourage families to really think about what goes into food production, and the chain of events that lead to the produce ending up in the fridge.
The GMB host wrote: "Think about the whole process. Our food is planted or born, then fed and watered as it grows before being harvested or slaughtered, usually using machines. It is then transported for storage before it is packaged and transported again to food shops.
"In shops, it might need to be refrigerated, then we travel to buy the food, take it home and keep it in our fridges.
"If the food goes off before we even use it, ALL of the energy (greenhouse gases) and resources have been for nothing. It's really sad when you think about it. And if we cook it (using more energy) and then throw it away because we made too much or don't like it, we can add even more emissions to the pile."
In her book, Laura goes on to share a number of shocking statistics about food waste in the UK including the stat that 9.5 million tonnes of edible food is thrown away by households every year in the UK.
And over the space of one-year, the average UK family will throw away an eye-watering £700 worth of food.
Laura says if we all stopped wasting the food which could have been eaten, it would have the same CO2 impact as taking one in four cars off UK roads.
In order to combat the issue, Laura suggests that families across the UK plan their weekly meals in a bid to reduce food waste.
The GMB star also warns against shopping whilst you're hungry in order to avoid buying more food than you normally would.
Lastly, Laura recommends to freeze leftovers before they go off and use them accordingly.
Laura shares thrifty life hacks as part of her new book, Everyday Ways To Save Our Planet, released by Mirror Books.
Within the pages, Laura also offers plenty of tips and tricks to help people make a difference to saving the planet by making small everyday changes to their routines - including recycling and cutting down on the use of plastics.
Laura Tobin: Everyday Ways To Save Our Planet, RRP £14.99, is out on 7 April and published by Mirror Books.
