Under the auspices of the Royal Society of Chemistry (Food Group), this three day event will provide an open forum to highlight recent developments and to facilitate knowledge transfer between representatives of the agri-food industries, scientific research community, legal experts on food related legislation and waste management, and consumer organisations. The 2014 conference will be run by the Institute of Food Research in collaboration with the COST Action Network TD1203 Food waste valorisation for sustainable chemicals, materials and fuels (EUBis), and will comprise plenary lectures, short talks, poster sessions, and focussed workshops.