The food we waste
Thanks to Frances at France and the Unknown for bringing this report to our attention. It really highlights what each of us could do to help cut waste and help the environment. It is a UK report (does anyone know of one looking at France?) but I am sure the figures are similar:
People in the UK throw away around one third of the food they buy.
Of that most could have been eaten – 61% or 4.1 million tonnes
a year was avoidable.
The most common reason for food being wasted is that
it’s left unused – 61% of the avoidable food waste or
2….5 million tonnes.
Of this, 40% – almost one million tonnes – isn’t even touched
and at least a tenth – 340,000 tonnes – is still in date.
We also cook and prepare too much, resulting in an additional
1.6 million tonnes of food waste a year
All this adds up to lots of unnecessary waste – for example every day
we throw away:
seven million slices of bread;
one million slices of ham;
4.4 million whole apples;
1.3 million yoghurts and yoghurt drinks; and
440,000 ready-made meals.
Of that most could have been eaten – 61% or 4.1 million tonnes
a year was avoidable.
The most common reason for food being wasted is that
it’s left unused – 61% of the avoidable food waste or
2….5 million tonnes.
Of this, 40% – almost one million tonnes – isn’t even touched
and at least a tenth – 340,000 tonnes – is still in date.
We also cook and prepare too much, resulting in an additional
1.6 million tonnes of food waste a year
All this adds up to lots of unnecessary waste – for example every day
we throw away:
seven million slices of bread;
one million slices of ham;
4.4 million whole apples;
1.3 million yoghurts and yoghurt drinks; and
440,000 ready-made meals.
Vegetarian and Vegan France 