UK Residents waste $20 Billion worth of food every year, The Guardian reports. A new British Government study on waste has found that Britons are simply throwing away $20 Billion worth of food that could have been eaten. If you’ve sampled certain British cuisine, this might not come as much of a surprise, but the negative effect this enormous amount of waste has on the environment is no joke.

Approximately $12 Billion of the total comes from food that is bought but never touched. Britons simply toss out 13 million unopened yogurt containers, 5,500 untouched chickens and 440,000 un-nuked TV Dinners each year. The rest of the $20 Billion comes from excess food which is prepared to eat but never consumed because the amount was misjudged and the extra is never eaten as leftovers.

The production and transportation of food produce an enormous amount of CO2 emissions. The study estimates that eliminating the waste would be the equivalent of taking 20% of automobiles off the road in terms of its environmental impact. Plus with rising food prices conservation makes for some serious savings on grocery bills.

You can by checking out the work of Philabundance, a non profit in the Philadelphia area killing two birds with one stone by taking surplus food to feed the homeless and needy.