A study by WRAP of 2,138 UK households suggests that Britons dump £9bn of avoidable waste each year - a high percentage of which was food. 60% of dumped food is untouched and and at least £1bn worth of food wasted in the UK is still “in date”. Some key findings:
- Bakery goods made up 19%, by weight, of all avoidable food waste. Vegetables contributed 18%.
- Meat and fish also made up a large proportion - 18% - of the total money wasted on food.
- 5,500 whole chickens were thrown away each day in the UK.
- “Mixed foods” like ready meals made up 21% of the total cost of waste, with 440,000 thrown away each day.
- The two most significantly wasted foods were potatoes and bread.
- 1.3m unopened yoghurt pots are disposed every day
[viaBBC NEWS]
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Shocking. If people grew their own stuff they’d gain a respect for the final product. It takes effort, care and time - I certainly won’t be throwing out my office tomatoes!*
*see early post on office vegetable patches - Offarming or MicroFarming
May 9th, 2008 at 10:33 am