The Food We Waste

Today I came across the mother of all food waste statistics documents. It's a study put out by WRAP, which is a charitable organization in the UK that encourages the efficient uses of resources in the UK. According to their website,

WRAP works with local authorities, business and households to prevent waste, increase recycling and develop markets for recycled and sustainable products.

It is our aim to create the case for change, support change and deliver change.

WRAP has three targets that they want to meet. They aim to:

• Divert 8 million tonnes of waste materials from landfill.
• Save 5 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions.
• Generate £1.1 billion of economic benefits to business, local authorities and consumers.

WRAP plans to reach these targets by focusing on four priorities:

1. Packaging
2. Food waste
3. Collection systems
4. Quality of materials

WRAP released a 237 page study on the UK's food waste habits. Their research supports what we found in our earlier surveys, that food waste is caused by a variety of factors including

• A lack of planning when food shopping - buying more than is needed;
• Poor food storage knowledge;
• A lack of confidence around cooking (especially making meals from the food available in the house, and portion control), and
• Confusion over food date labels (such as the difference between 'use by' and 'best before')

Other notable bits from the document include:

• 6,700,000 tonnes of food are wasted every year in the UK.
• 4,100,000 tonnes of that food waste is avoidable, meaning that it would have been unnecessary had the food been handled properly.
• Food waste costs the average UK household £420 pounds per year.
• That's £10.2 BILLION in avoidable food waste.

The whole document can be downloaded from WRAP's website.