Are you putting £50 in the bin every month?
UK households throw away 8.3 million tonnes of food and drink every year. It’s the same as one in three bagfuls of food shopping going straight in the bin.
Throwing away last night’s leftovers may seem harmless enough, but food waste across the UK costs us an average of £50 per household per month.
“£12 billion worth of food and drink is thrown out every year in UK homes. By stopping this food waste, we could save around £50 per month,” says Doreen McIntyre, campaigns director for the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP).
Food waste produces 20 million tonnes of CO2 every year
Sending food waste to one of the more than 1,500 landfills in the UK could be making matters worse. Dumping waste on top of waste increases the production of methane – a greenhouse gas even more potent than CO2.
Taking steps to reduce the amount thrown away is important. Harmful emissions need to be cut, and the burden on our overcrowded waste sites reduced too.
Could wasting less help remove cars from the road?
Ok, not literally, but WRAP estimates that if the UK stopped wasting food and drink that could have been eaten, the CO2 impact would be equivalent to taking one in four cars off the road.
According to WRAP, every year we spend £12 billionbuying and then throwing away good food.
Almost one million tonnes of food is thrown out unopened
Smarter shopping habits and better planning could help reduce the amount of food thrown away. Much of it isn’t even mouldy. At least 8% of discarded food is still in date when it heads for the bin.
Are big businesses doing their bit?
Asda, Mars and Waitrose signed up in March 2010 to new food waste and packaging targets including a 4% reduction in household food waste by 2012.
Supermarket chain Morrisons is launching a new Great Taste, Less Waste campaign educating shoppers on the best ways to store food at home.
There’s still more to be done
Launched in November 2007, WRAP’s Love Food Hate Waste campaign encourages households to make changes.
So far, WRAP claims that 1.8 million UK households have cut back on food waste, saving around £296 million a year.
However, there is still some way to go. The latest figures from WRAP show that 860,000 tonnes of fresh vegetables and salads are still being thrown away.
WRAP research shows that a 50% reduction in edible household waste over the next ten years could save 27 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, amounting to 232 million tonnes cumulatively by 2050. The saving to consumers could be as much as £50 billion.
Doreen McIntyre recommends simple changes such as better portioning and storage. Meal planning that raids the back of the cupboard or fridge, helps too.
Key facts
- In the UK we throw away 8.3 million tonnes of food and drink every year.
- Of this 8.3 million tonnes, WRAP estimates that 5.3 million tonnes is avoidable. That’s the equivalent of filling 4,700 Olympic-sized swimming pools
- Stopping throwing away this food and drink could save the equivalent of at least 20 million tonnes of CO2 emissions each year
Five ways to waste less
1. Plan ahead and write a list before you go shopping
2. Get creative with leftovers and make two meals out of one
3. Regularly check the dates on perishable items
4. Take the guess work out of portion size by weighing rice and pasta
5. Store as much food as you can in your freezer
Quick links:
Love Food Hate Waste: http://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/
The Industry Council for Packaging and the Environment: http://www.incpen.org/
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