The Know Daily - Tuesday 29 April 2025

_{Read in 4m 41s ∙ Listening to Patti Smith ∙}

Memorabilia from the 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games raised €228,000 for charity at auction. Items up for grabs included long relay torches, costumes from the opening acts and variations of the beloved mascot Phyrge. The money will go to 3 different organisations that support parasport and physical exercise for hospital patients 🙌

🥕 Leftovers lifeline

A new study found that self-reported food waste in the UK is rising, but there’s plenty being done to address this.

What did the report find?
Environmental action non-profit Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) recently released its annual report detailing Brits’ attitude and behaviours towards food waste at home. The latest edition found that self-reported food waste reached 21% in June 2024. 10% of Brits said they feel comfortable wasting food, while 17% said they are uncertain about it. The main factors behind this include being unsure about the right amount to buy, having less concern over food affordability and availability, plus reduced importance placed on how produce is grown and stored.

What’s being done about it?
WRAP has called for a consultation on a packaging ban for 21 fruit and veg items. Currently, only 19% of fresh produce is unpackaged, so this ban would encourage large grocery retailers to offer shoppers loose items. By providing this solution, consumers can more easily buy the precise amount they need and so throw less away, according to a spokesperson from Love Food Hate Waste – WRAP’s national campaign brand for reducing waste. This would fall in line with their government-backed initiative to halve food waste in the UK by 2030. 

What’s more, there have been calls to remove ‘use by’ dates on fresh produce after ‘best before’ labels were removed from some items in 2022, allowing Brits to use their judgement over whether they feel the food is fine to eat. UK universities are also pioneering research on waste reduction strategies across the globe, as well as supporting collection and redistribution initiatives in local communities. And farmers are receiving more data on food waste to better inform their annual crop growth.

How can I do my part?
There’s plenty of things we can do to cut down on food waste at home. Here are some great actionable tips:

• Before heading out to the shop, check your fridge, freezer and cupboards to see what you already have before you buy anything else

• Make a shopping list and stick to it so you only purchase what you need - meal planning can be really handy here

• If something looks like it might go off soon or you make more of a dish than intended, pop it in the freezer for another day

• Try your hand at “fridge raid meals” – recipes that utilise common ingredients you probably already have in

💊 Prescription payments: NHS prescription charges will be frozen at £9.90 per item in England for the next year.

• The bigger story: The cost of prescriptions will be kept under £10 for those who pay, to help deliver £18m in savings for patients, according to the government. Annual prescription plan charges will also be frozen, with those requiring regular medication able to get them for around £2 a week. It comes after the government pledged record investment in community pharmacies to fund local services for patients.

🇺🇸 Presidency progress: US President Donald Trump marks his 100th day in office today – here’s a rundown of what’s happened during his term so far. 

🌊 Deep sea discovery: A “dinosaur fish” thought to be extinct for millions of years has been captured on camera in Indonesia. 

⚡ Back from a blackout: Power has mostly been restored in Spain and Portugal after a huge outage yesterday.

🇨🇦 Election watch: Former Bank of England boss Mark Carney’s Liberal Party won Canada’s federal election – here’s why it matters. 

🖼️ Celebrating creativity: Finalists for the Art Fund Museum of the Year – which celebrates the UK’s most imaginative and innovative museums – have been announced.

🚄 Train travel: New high-speed railways are coming to Morocco.

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Trivia answer: C) Flora is the goddess of flowers and springtime.

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