UK households wasting less food, figures show

Food waste has fallen by 13% in the last three years, but is still costing Britons the same amount because of inflation
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Food waste from households has fallen by 13% in the past three years. Photograph: Fuzzbones/Alamy Fuzzbones / Alamy/Alamy

Food waste from households has fallen by 13% in the past three years due to the economic downturn, but is still costing Britons the same amount because of inflation, according to government data published on Tuesday.

Despite what is being hailed as "a huge achievement", 60% of the 7.2m tonnes of food that is thrown away annually could have been eaten. Britons still waste around one-fifth of all food purchased, while almost half the total wasted food mountain in the UK still comes from the home.

And the effects of food inflation means that despite the reduction, the amount of edible household food waste is worth around £12bn, or around £680 a year for the average family with children.

The research by the Waste & Resources Action Programme (Wrap) shows that British families now throw away 7.2m tonnes of household food waste in the UK, compared to 8.3m tonnes in 2006-07 - a fall of 13% or 1.1m tonnes.

In terms of volume, the saving is enough to completely fill Wembley stadium. In 2006-07 the amount of household food waste thrown away was sufficient to fill it 10 times over, but the reduction means it would now fill nine.

The reduction is also estimated to have saved councils up to £80m a year, because by sending less food to the tip they are incurring less landfill changes. The savings associated with the reduction in avoidable household food waste amount to around 3.6m tonnes of CO2 a year, and almost 1bn litres of water.

Wrap chief executive, Liz Goodwin, said Wrap had met all its published major targets, having helped keep 11 million tonnes of waste out of landfill, avoid 5.5 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions and generate £2bn of benefits to the UK economy, including £1.8bn of cost savings.

She said: "All the governments of the UK which fund our work have the goal of moving swiftly towards a zero waste society. Their priority is to find ways of tackling waste – including food waste – and keep scarce resources in use for as long as possible. Wrap's work in supporting families and business in wasting less and recycling more is well known. Less well known is the ground-breaking research and technological innovation we have pioneered which supports the UK economy through major breakthroughs in resource efficiency that deliver cost savings."

Separately five thousand members of the public have been invited to enjoy a free hot lunch in Trafalgar Square on Friday, using made entirely from ingredients that would otherwise have been wasted.

In just two hours, charities, volunteers, and the Mayor of London Boris Johnson, will serve a free lunch to 5000 members of the public. The menu will include curry made from 'misshapen' and wonky vegetables, and a range of cooked dishes prepared live by well known chefs, including Thomasina Miers, Valentine Warner and Arthur Potts Dawson.

The so-called Feeding the 5000 initiative is organised by Tristram Stuart, author of Waste: Uncovering the Global Food Scandal , whose campaigning on food waste won him this year's international environmental award, The Sophie Prize.

He explained: "Feeding the 5000 is a wonderful partnership including farmers, charities and the public. The aim of our lunchtime feast is to highlight how food waste can be avoided by putting food to good use i.e. feeding people. We want businesses and the public to sign the Feeding the 5000 pledge to show how everyone has the power – and the responsibility – to help solve the global food waste scandal."