Not content with their excellent 2008 study on waste throughout the food chain in Britain, the semi-governmental group WRAP just released a more detailed study on household food waste.
This is a pretty big deal in these parts, and I’ll be making my way through the study in the coming days. In the meantime, here are several key findings:
–Households waste 25% of food purchased (by weight).
–More than 60% of home food waste was avoidable.
–That avoidable waste comes at a cost of £12 billion annually (about $20 billion).
–More than half of the avoidable waste occurred because it wasn’t used in time. Preparing and/or serving too much made up most of the rest.
–Fresh veggies and salads are the most often wasted (23% of waste)
One other bit–the study contains what could be the understatement of the year:
The issue of food and drink waste has moved up the social and political agenda in the UK in recent years, spurred in part by the publication of detailed information on the amount and types of waste produced (The Food We Waste report, WRAP, May 2008).
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