Don't waste spare food

12:05pm Saturday 10th May 2008

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A new research report "The Food We Waste", published by WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme) today revealed that the average household in Gloucestershire throws out £420 of good food a year. For some families with children it can be as much as £610 - which could have helped pay household bills.

The cost of needlessly wasted food to UK households is £10 billion a year, £2 billion higher than previously estimated. The research gives detailed new insights into the nature and amount of food waste thrown away in the UK and is believed to be the first study of its kind.

Researchers found that more than half the good food thrown out, worth £6 billion a year is bought and simply left unused or untouched. For example, each day 1.3 million unopened yoghurt pots, 5,500 whole chickens and 440,000 ready meals are thrown away in the UK. The study revealed that £1 billion worth of wasted food is still "in date".

Since October last year in the Stroud district, residents in the King's Stanley and Leonard Stanley area have had their food waste collected separately every week. It has proved very successful, with a current recycling rate of over 56%. Meanwhile Cotswold District Council have just introduced their own weekly food collection scheme, as part of a major redesign of the Council's waste and recycling service.

The council is delivering new 10-litre food waste containers to every household in the District in a bid to divert thousands of tonnes of rubbish away from landfill sites.

"It's early days for the food waste collection service but we are hoping that, along with the other changes we are introducing, it will make a major impact on reducing landfill waste and increasing recycling rates," said Waste Manager Scott Williams.

"Figures from the first areas of the District to receive the full new service have been very encouraging. If they are replicated elsewhere, we could cut the waste we send to landfill by more than a quarter.

"We are confident that most of our residents will soon be separating out their food waste so it can be made into useful high quality compost rather than being buried in the ground where it generates large amounts of the harmful greenhouse gas, methane."

The environmental impact of food waste is enormous, because of all the energy and resources which are used to get food to our homes, and when it reaches landfill, there is a major carbon impact. Tackling the problem of food waste would be the same as taking 1 in 5 cars off of UK roads.

Launching the report "The Food We Waste" today Liz Goodwin, Chief Executive of WRAP, described the findings as "shocking".

"Food waste has a significant environmental impact. This research confirms that it is an issue for us all, whether as consumers, retailers, local or central Government." She added: "What shocked me the most was the cost of our food waste at a time of rising food bills, and generally a tighter pull on our purse strings."

Julia Falcon of WRAP's campaign, Love Food Hate Waste, said: "This report shows we could all be saving money and time by making better use of our food. We've found there's a real demand for quick and easy ideas and lovefoodhatewaste.com can help with tips which turn into good habits in the kitchen."