There is enough wasted food to feed all the hungry people in the world, Pope Francis says in a video dedicated to recyclers.

The Pope’s message, filmed during a meeting with leaders of Argentina’s Excluded Workers Movement, was released at a gathering of people who eke out a living recycling rubbish in the South American nation, Vatican Radio said.

In the video, dedicated to the recyclers of the world, the Argentine pontiff urges them to continue developing “decent kinds of work stemming from their ecological tasks” and to raise awareness among the people about wasting food.

“Think about how to do more with this work of recycling leftovers. Because leftovers are good. Nowadays we can’t allow ourselves to despise what is left over,” says the Pope, once known as cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio.

“We are living in a throwaway culture, where we easily toss away not only things, but people,” the Pope says, adding that “the food that is thrown away could feed all the hungry people of the world”.

Pope Francis say recycling is not only ecologically sound and productive but “it also means not wasting food when there are young people going hungry”.