WRAP have recently published figures to show the cost of wasted food to UK households; research has shown that the cost stands at £10 billion per annum, £2 billion more than was previously estimated. Environment Minister, Joan Ruddock said at a launch for the report,
“These findings are staggering in their own right, but at a time when global food shortages are in the headlines this kind of wastefulness becomes even more shocking.
“This is costing consumers three times over. Not only do they pay hard-earned money for food they don’t eat, there is also the cost of dealing with the waste this creates. And there are climate change costs to all of us of growing, processing, packaging, transporting, and refrigerating food that only ends up in the bin.
“Waste reduction is a key priority for the Government, giving us our greatest environmental and economic gains. If we are to achieve a more sustainable lifestyle, we need to encourage behaviour change to reduce the waste we generate. So we cannot ignore the implications of the 6.7 million tonnes of food which this report indicates are wasted unnecessarily every year.”
The research shows that the average UK household bins £420 worth of good food each year, and the average family household with children bin a staggering £610 worth. More than half of the good food thrown away, worth £6 billion a year, has been bought and never used or started. Amazingly, £1 billion worth is still actually "in date", and includes 440,000 ready meals, 5,500 complete chickens, and 1.3 million unopened yoghurt pots. The cost to our local authorities to dispose of this waste food is £1 billion, and we actually pay for this disposal through our council tax!
Putting a stop to our waste of good food could avoid 18 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents being emitted each year, or in simpler terms, the same saving as taking 1 in 5 cars off the road in the UK.
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