Scots needlessly bin own bodyweight in 'waste' food

Published on Wednesday 2 September 2009 22:02

SCOTTISH households throw away 570,000 tonnes of food and drink every year.

The majority is wasted needlessly and costs Scots 1 billion each year, according to the Waste and Resources Action Programme (Wrap) Scotland.

The quango studied the habits of 1,169 households, showing for the first time the scale of food and drink wasted.

The results revealed 19,000 tonnes of potatoes are binned, 25,000 tonnes of sliced bread, 23,000 tonnes of fizzy drinks and 31,000 tonnes of milk.

Of the 570,000 tonnes of thrown-out food, two-thirds was "avoidable" waste, meaning it could have been eaten. The rest was "unavoidable" waste, such as meat bones and fruit and vegetable peelings.

The Food We Waste in Scotland, published today, suggests Scottish households each throw away between 190kg and 360kg food every year, losing the average family 430.

Families with children lose on average 550 annually – more than they spend on gas bills, telephone bills or bus and train fares. Individually, Scots bin roughly their bodyweight in food annually – about 76 kg.

Iain Gulland, Wrap director for Scotland, said: "This new research shows the massive financial and environmental burden of food waste. Scottish households are throwing out huge amounts of food, most of which could have been eaten, and this costs us dearly.

"Not only are we paying for this food at the checkout, we are also paying to dispose of it through our council tax. This is a terrible waste in these difficult economic times."

Half of the good food thrown out was whole and uneaten, with one in seven items still in its packaging. At least 18 million of the latter was still within its use-by or best-before date.

Collecting and disposing of food waste costs councils an estimated 85m a year. And the energy involved with producing, transporting, packaging and storing the food means the environmental cost is high.

Wasted food rotting in landfill sites also emits methane, a damaging greenhouse gas. If the avoidable food waste had been consumed, it would have prevented the equivalent of 1.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide entering the atmosphere each year, says Wrap Scotland.

Environment secretary Richard Lochhead said: "Most people would agree that it's shocking to think that society needlessly wastes 1bn of food each year in Scotland. As well as the financial strain on households, the equivalent of 8 to 10 a week, food and packaging add considerably to our waste stream."

Dr Nicki Souter, Waste Aware Scotland campaign manager, added: "The reasons we waste food are that we cook or prepare too much or we buy things and then don't use them in time.

"There are many small changes householders can make to the way they manage food, which can dramatically reduce food waste and put that money back in their pocket – for example, planning food shopping and storing food correctly."

Households in seven local authority areas were interviewed in 2008 and the contents of their bins were analysed.

Planning what goes in your trolley will save you money, say experts

Don't treat food like rubbish. Shop, store and eat sensibly

BETTER planning of what is put in the shopping trolley would avoid most food waste, according to experts.

They say key reasons food ends up in the bin include that too much is bought in the first place, so it goes off.

Portion sizes are often too large, so some of the meal has to be thrown away.

And, in other instances, the person who bought the food simply goes off the idea of eating it.

Wrap Scotland is encouraging people to plan their shopping better, store food more wisely and prepare meals more sensibly.

Their Love Food Hate Waste campaign aims to help UK consumers to cut back on the amount of food they throw away.

Top tips include:

&#149 Write a shopping list: planning meals and food shopping can save money as well as waste, because you only buy what you need.

&#149 Check what is already in your cupboards and fridge before you go shopping.

&#149 Buy the amount of food you need, rather than being tempted to bulk-buy perishable items that you might not use in time.

&#149 Try rotating the food in your fridge, so that any food at the back that needs used up first is brought to the front.

&#149 Use leftovers to cook new meals. Wrap Scotland has recipe ideas.

&#149 Keep fresh vegetables and fruit in the fridge, so they last longer.

&#149 Revive wilted salad by submerging it in a bowl or cold water and putting it in the fridge.

&#149 Put half of your loaf of bread in the freezer to use at a later date.