A HONITON man has won a special hamper as a result of his efforts to cut food waste.

A HONITON man has won a special hamper as a result of his efforts to cut food waste.Michael Neve won the hamper after taking part in a free prize draw, organised by the Don't Let Devon Go To Waste campaign, at the Exeter Festival of South West Food and Drink, in April.To enter, Mr Neve, along with 1,500 other people, was able to test his food portion sizes and pledge to reduce his food waste, in exchange for an Eat Well, Waste Less recipe book and a spaghetti measure or wipe board.Included in Mr Neve's prize were food waste-saving items such as fruit and vegetable bags, which keep produce fresher for longer, plastic airtight containers for storing leftovers in the freezer, measuring jugs and spoons and a recycling and compost book.Mr Neve said: "I was really pleased to win this prize, as the items in the hamper will help my family reduce its food waste even further."Liz Poulter, Devon County Council's senior waste management officer, said: "Congratulations to Mr Neve on his win and congratulations to all the other hundreds of people who pledged to reduce their food waste. If we all do our bit, there will be less food going in the bin, families should see their shopping bills go down and the environment will benefit too."Love Food, Hate Waste provides handy tips, advice and recipes for leftovers to help everyone waste less food. Around a third of all the food we buy ends up being thrown in the bin and most of this could have been eaten. Liz said: "Reducing food waste is a major issue and not just about good food going to waste; wasting food costs the average family �420 a year and has serious environmental implications too. If we all stop wasting food that could have been eaten, the CO2 impact would be the equivalent of taking one in five cars off the road."Among the tips to reduce food waste are: practise portion control, pay attention to use-by/best before dates and use leftovers for lunch the next day.