Consumers save £300 million worth of food going to waste
WRAP's Love Food Hate Waste campaign has helped almost two million more households in the UK to save money by cutting back on throwing food away, new figures published today reveal.
Since the launch of the Love Food Hate Waste campaign in 2007, research shows that 1.8 million more UK households are now taking steps to cut back on the amount of food they throw away, resulting in an overall saving of £296 million a year, stopping 137,000 tonnes of food being thrown away. This prevents 600,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases being emitted, which is the same carbon impact as taking 100,000 return flights to Australia out of the skies.
The campaign was set up after research found that 6.7 million tonnes of food is thrown away from UK homes each year - a third of the food we buy. The cost to consumers of wasted food is £10 billion a year Love Food Hate Waste’s role is to provide practical help to cut back on this waste.
Liz Goodwin, Chief Executive of WRAP, said she was encouraged by the impact the Love Food Hate Waste campaign has been making:
"At a time when every penny counts, saving nearly £300 million is a great achievement for hard pressed consumers. Food which ends up in landfill produces damaging greenhouse gases and is a terrible waste of resources. We're delighted that the Love Food Hate Waste campaign is helping individual households enjoy more of their food, help the environment and save money."
She continued "We recognise that although the results of the first year are encouraging, there is much more to do, and we're confident we can continue to support the growing number of households cutting back this waste."
The campaign has been promoting practical advice and tips to help people make the most of the food they are buying, and waste less of it. WRAP's tracker research* has identified some key reasons why households feel they are cutting back on waste, including:
- Becoming better at planning meals so that food isn't wasted (37%)
- Becoming better at using up food that is already in the fridge or cupboard before buying new food (31%)
- Becoming better at measuring the correct portion sizes so that we don't cook too much (22%)
- Becoming better at using our freezers (20%)
The worsening economic conditions are increasingly encouraging us to shop more carefully and cut back on waste, with 60% of homes reporting these pressures affecting them. But interestingly WRAP's research also shows that 84% of us still feel we don't waste significant amounts of food - therefore the campaign's aim is to continue to raise awareness of the issue, alongside the personal benefits of wasting less food.
Love Food Hate Waste is part of WRAP's food waste work to reduce household and commercial food waste. The campaign works closely with Local Authorities and partners such as the supermarkets and major brands within the Courtauld Commitment, who are committed to helping their customers waste less food, and cut back food waste in the production and supply chain.
For practical advice on how to reduce food waste please visit www.lovefoodhatewaste.com
Editor's notes:
* The impact of the campaign to date is calculated using data from WRAP's Love Food Hate Waste "Tracker" research from the last 12 months, in conjunction with data from The Food We Waste report (http://www.wrap.org.uk/retail/case_studies_research/report_the_food_we.html). Other behavioural insights and statistics are taken from the most recent wave of Tracker research (September 2008).
** The Courtauld Commitment is a voluntary agreement between WRAP and major UK grocery organisations that supports less packaging and food waste ending up in household bins.
Key facts from the Love Food Hate Waste campaign:
- The impact of the Love Food Hate Waste Campaign to date has meant 600,000 tonnes of CO2, the equivalent of 100,000 return flights to Australia, have been prevented from being emitted into the atmosphere.
- In the UK we are throwing away one third of the food we buy. That's like one in three bagfuls of food shopping going straight in the bin.
- We throw away 6.7 tonnes of food each year in the UK, when most of this food could have been eaten. (It’s not just peelings and bones - it's good food). That's equivalent to filling Wembley Stadium with food waste 8 times over!
- In terms of environmental impact - producing, storing and getting the food to our homes uses a lot of energy. If we stopped wasting all this food, it would save the equivalent of at least 18 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. That's like taking 1 in 5 cars off UK roads.
- Most of this food reaches landfill sites where it emits methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.
- High economic cost – at least £10 billion worth of food that could have been eaten is thrown out every year. UK householders are throwing out on average more than £400/year.
- We throw food out for two main reasons: 1) we cook or prepare too much, costing us around £4 billion per year; 2) and we let food go off, either completely untouched, or opened/ started but not finished, costing £6 billion per year.
Generic Footnote:
- For more information on the Love Food Hate Waste campaign, visit: www.lovefoodhatewaste.com
- Love Food Hate Waste is delivered in partnership with the Scottish Waste Awareness Group (http://www.wasteawarelovefood.org.uk/) and Waste Aware Wales (http://www.wasteawarenesswales.org.uk/reduce/lfhw.html)
- Key findings of our recent research on the nature, scale and causes of household food waste can be found at: http://www.wrap.org.uk/retail/food_waste/index.html
- WRAP helps individuals, businesses and local authorities to reduce waste and recycle more, making better use of resources and helping to tackle climate change.
- Established as a not-for-profit company in 2000, WRAP is backed by Government funding from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
- Working in seven key areas (Construction, Retail, Manufacturing, Organics, Business Growth, Behavioural Change, and Local Authority Support), WRAP’s work focuses on market development and support to drive forward recycling and materials resource efficiency within these sectors, as well as wider communications and awareness activities including the multi-media national Recycle Now campaign for England.
- More information on all of WRAP's programmes can be found on www.wrap.org.uk
