Save the Earth

Find out more about food wastage

Why are we throwing away all this food?

Fruit and veg aren't the only casualties of food wastage - we throw away a third of all the food we buy. So what are the reasons?

• We're afraid of getting food poisoning from out of date food
• We cook more food than we can eat, and end up throwing the rest away
• We forget what food we already have in the cupboard, and accidentally buy more

Facts and figures

• We spend £10.2 billion every year buying and then throwing away good food. That's £420 for the average UK household, and even more for families, who waste £610-worth of food a year
• 6.7 million tonnes of food is thrown away by households in the UK every year
• More than 80% of this can be avoided - the rest are things like bones, cores and peelings
• At least 340,000 tonnes or food is still safe to eat when thrown away
• It's not just you and me who throw away food - supermarkets are top culprits too

What can you do?

There are lots of things you can do to waste less food. Here are just a few of them:

• Store your food properly, so that it lasts longer - consider investing in plastic containers
• Remember to freeze leftovers before they go out of date
• Don't confuse "best before" with "use by" - you have to eat foods by the use by date, but otherwise you can use your judgement
• Start a compost heap in your garden - it's better to compost food waste than to throw it in the bin
• Try being a bit more experimental with your cooking - using up old food can lead to some interesting meals!