Whether it is because we are suckers for gluttony or incapable of calculating how much we will need to feed our family and friends for the annual Christmas feast, every year British household shamelessly end up chucking away a mountain of surplus festive food. We shop, we eat some of it and bin the rest. Much of it could be re-used and such enormous waste is drain on the environment as well as our finances.

Figures published on Thursday reveal the shocking extent of our thoughtlessness. We throw out the equivalent of 2 million turkeys, 5m Christmas puddings and a truly shocking 74m mince pies, according to the Love Food Hate Waste campaign run by the government's waste reduction advisory body, Wrap. To put it into context, that means we are binning nearly twice as many mince pies as retail giant Marks & Spencer sells every year (40m).

Farmers, transport companies and ship operators involved in the export of live animals face tougher controls over their business as ministers seek to allay welfare concerns over the treatment of livestock.

Government inspectors are already said by ministers to be checking all shipments through Ramsgate in Kent, the only port now involved in the trade – albeit reluctantly – and this will continue until the government is satisfied "there is no longer a high risk" to animals.

Lorry companies and shippers will also not be allowed to give short notice of shipments to the agency, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said on Wednesday. This happened last month in an attempt to evade protests by welfare campaigners at the port where more than 40 sheep had to be destroyed on the advice of the RSPCA after an incident in September.

RHS Conference: ‘Horticulture, a Career to be Proud of’

Today, the gardening world gathered at the RHS Horticultural Halls, in London, to take the first steps to solve a serious problem; the current perception of gardening as a career. A recent RHS survey found 75 percent of under-18s think it’s a career for dropouts, and 70 percent say it was never recommended to them at school.*

As part of the first National Gardening Week, ‘Horticulture, a Career to be Proud of’, saw key figures in the gardening world**, from Kew’s top scientist to the Chelsea Show Manager, give talks to an audience made up of MPs, the media, representatives from the Horticultural and Educational Industries etc, in an effort to change the perceptions of horticulture being an unskilled, second-choice career.

The National Society of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners (NSALG) is calling on all allotment holders across the UK to hold a ‘Party on the Plot’, during National Allotments Week (6th and 12th August 2012), as it works to galvanise community support for allotments and protect them from developers.

A recent survey conducted by the NSALG* found that 74% of its members are worried that their allotment land will be sold off and redeveloped in the future; while the Society itself receives hundreds of calls a year from allotment holders looking for advice on how best to safeguard their plots.