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Despite Government food waste reduction targets and schemes such as \u2018Love Food, Hate Waste\u2019 which have aimed to encourage people to rethink the way they cook and shop, the UK currently wastes over 15m tonnes of food each year. Of the 7 million tonnes of food waste discarded from homes, nearly half is edible. \u00a0

The amount of food we waste as a nation is particularly shocking when we consider the ever-increasing dependence on food banks which have seen a 4-fold increase in use since 2012.\u00a0

The cosmetic standards of supermarkets should also be addressed when tackling the issue of food waste, as 20% - 40% of food headed for the supermarket shelves is discarded as it does not meet cosmetic standards. We are starting to see attempts to rectify this issue, with so-called \u2018wonky\u2019 fruit and veg now available on the shelves of several major UK supermarkets.\u00a0

We\u2019re all guilty of discarding leftover salad, fruit, vegetables and bread in our waste disposers before we do the next food shop, with the top reasons for throwing food away in the UK found to be:

74% of people didn\u2019t write a shopping list
35% didn\u2019t plan their meals\u00a0
24% didn\u2019t know what was in the fridge before they went to the supermarket\u00a0

It\u2019s clear to see that with a little pre-planning before the weekly shop, we could all significantly reduce our food waste. With 2.6 million slices of bread thrown away every day in London alone, it\u2019s high time we did!\u00a0

When we waste food, we also waste water, as a significant amount of water is required to grow and produce food. It takes 100 buckets of water to produce a loaf of bread, 54 buckets to produce just one chicken breast and six buckets to produce a potato, so when you throw this food away, the water is wasted alongside the produce, causing even more of an environmental impact.\u00a0

With local authorities spending over \u00a350 million per year to dispose of food waste, consider what else these funds could be spent on. With council budgets stretched even further and roads and local amenities suffering, it\u2019s time we tackled the issue of food waste in the UK. \u00a0
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UK Food Waste Facts