In the fight against food waste, it

might be closer than you think.

These black fly larvae might not look that appetising,

but they yield a high-quality protein.

They're being farmed in a small facility under the rail arches

by London Bridge.

Oh, the smell.

Oof.

First, black soldier flies are encouraged

to meet in an artificial and controlled environment.

Their eggs are then extracted and the baby larvae

are fed food waste from local businesses.

So we collect food waste, such as coffee and beer waste.

We process it and then we put it into feeding units

where we add baby larvae.

We wait for a 12-day cycle and they've

left behind the fertiliser.

So we now then can separate the larvae from the fertiliser

and then use the fertiliser to grow new crops

and obviously use the larvae to dry and turn into the products.

Nothing goes to waste.

The main product for now is fish food,

but the insect protein powder could eventually

be sold for human consumption.

Founder Kieran believes he's producing

the most efficient and environmentally friendly

protein source on the planet.

That's important because the UN says around a third

of all food produced globally every year is wasted.

That's 1.3bn tonnes or $1tn US dollars.

And that means wasted water, wasted land,

wasted energy, wasted money, and greater greenhouse gas

emissions.

The perfect business would be to go into the gym industry

and to people who want high protein,

low-fat diets because it is incredibly high quality

protein.

Your vegetable-based proteins have an amino acid profile

around here while your meat-based proteins.

And of course, all other meat-based proteins

have that environmental degradation.

The question really is, why wouldn't you eat insects?

There isn't a why not.

Would you eat an insect?

Go on, then.

Let's give it a go.

Here we go.

Yeah.

That's not bad.

Quite nutty, isn't it?

Exactly.

With some added salt and chilli, I'd

even go as far as saying the black fly larvae could taste

pretty good with a cold beer.

In the same London Bridge unit, SafetyNet

has developed technology to combat waste

in commercial fishing.

The UN says around 27 per cent of fish caught

are lost or wasted.

Bycatch can include juvenile fish, protected species,

or crustaceans, which are then thrown back

into the sea, often dead.

We design lights that fit into fishing nets like this,

called Pisces.

And we use these to help guide fish out of the nets

by selectively communicating with them,

if you like, based on what they can see.

You communicate with the fish.

How does that happen?

So we turn these lights on and some fish can see some colours.

So, for instance, like a blue light

if you're a particular species of fish.

And other fish maybe can't see that so well.

So we might light up one part of the net like Las Vegas

and make it really bright.

And they'll be like, what's that?

And they'll swim over and look at it and find their way out.

And the other fish swim past as if there's nothing

really going on.

And that helps us separate species out.

Household waste is a big part of the problem, too.

UK households on average waste the equivalent of seven meals

a week.

Tessa Clark was so stunned at the scale of the problem that

she founded Olio, a mobile app that lets consumers with

unwanted food connect with neighbours living nearby who

might take it off their hands.

Food waste as an issue has not yet had its moment,

but it is growing rapidly in terms

of the level of public consciousness around the scale

of this problem.

But I very much hope that food waste

is going to be considered in the same way

as plastic waste now is.

It is completely unacceptable.

It's going to take someone who is really sort of a mainstream

leader to step forward and to highlight to the world

the scale of this problem and the immediacy

with which we need to solve it.

Tech start-ups are doing their bit,

but there are low-tech ways to reduce food waste, too.

One of the most simple solutions is raising awareness.

Most of us don't realise just how much we're throwing away

or how much it's costing.

It's costing us on average in the UK about £60 a month.

For a family of four, that's over £700 a year.

The most important thing is we understand

that we waste food in the first place,

understand how much we're actually wasting.

This is particularly true in businesses.

And then taking simple steps to actually reduce it.

Make a list before you go shopping if you're in the home.

For business, the critical thing is to operationalise food waste

measurement.

The UN's sustainable development goals

aim to half global food waste at the retail and consumer level

by 2030.

Tech start-ups can play their part and maybe one day,

insects will be on the menu.

But understanding how much we waste in the first place

is at least a first step to hatching a solution.