New Study Finds Alarming Waste Levels in UK

According to a new study released this month, residents of the United Kingdom are throwing out about one-third of the food they eat.

The study, written by the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP), analyzed waste from about 2,000 households and found that more than 6.7 million tonnes of it was food waste. According to the study, UK residents throw out seven million slices of bread, 700,000 packages of chocolate, 1.2 million sausages and 2.8 million tomatoes. Fifteen percent of the discarded food had never even been opened, while five percent was still within the limits of its expiry date.

All this wasted food amounts to about £10 billion spent on uneaten food. Not only that, but wasted food in landfills is a large source of greenhouse gases such as methane.

But before regular grocery shoppers begin feeling like they must shoulder all the responsibility, consider how much perfectly edible food is thrown out by grocery stores. American journalist and writer Jonathan Bloom, author of the blog Wasted Food, once worked at a grocery store to see how much food was thrown out. On his first day at the store, he was told to discard 23 kilograms of produce, much of which was still edible.

The WRAP study also found that ready-made meals are a factor in the UK's food waste levels, with 330,000 unopened meals discarded every day.

Source:
Torstar News Service

Image: stock.xchng

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New Study Finds Alarming Waste Levels in UK

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