WRAP highlights food waste
May 5, 2008
The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) has published a new report that highlights the 6.7 million tonnes of food thrown away by UK consumers each year, equivalent to a third of all food bought, and WRAP is urging retailers to educate consumers as to how this amount of waste can be reduced.
The WRAP report says most of the food thrown away could have been eaten, and 40% (by weight) of the avoidable food waste is made up of fruit and vegetables, worth almost £3 billion.
The top five fruit and vegetables that get thrown away whole, without being touched, are apples, potatoes, bananas, tomatoes and oranges.
The WRAP report shows that the main reason why consumers throw so much out is because they simply do not eat it before it goes off, and are not storing fruit and vegetables in the best place once it is brought home from the shops.
For example, more than half of consumers choose to leave fruit out at room temperature, rather than keeping it cool, but WRAP's new research shows that by simply storing most fresh fruit and vegetables inside the fridge, these foods stay fresh for much longer – sometimes by as much as a fortnight.
In support of the Love Food Hate Waste initiative, WRAP's campaign to tackle food being wasted in UK homes, Sainsbury's is trialling new storage guidance to customers both in store and on its website. Findings from the research will be shared with all retailers.
The Love Food Hate Waste campaign provides detailed tips on storing different types of fruit and vegetables, to keep them at their freshest for longer, at www.lovefoodhatewaste.com, along with useful recipes.
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