Average UK Household Throws Away Six Meals Every Week

The average UK household throws away the equivalent of six meals every week, costing us as a nation £12.5 billion a year, or almost £60 a month to the average family, despite a significant drive to reduce food waste, a new report reveals.

The ground-breaking report into UK food waste by WRAP also reveals that since 2007 we have cut avoidable household food waste by an impressive 21%, which saved cash strapped consumers almost £13 billion. Yet we still throw away a staggering 4.2 million tonnes (Mt) of household food, which could have been eaten. Almost half of this food goes straight from our fridges or cupboards to the bin and doesn’t even make it onto our dinner plates.

WRAP has also carried out work which shows it could be possible to reduce avoidable household food waste by a further 1.7 million tonnes a year by 2025. Given the financial and environmental benefits of such a reduction to the UK, WRAP's CEO, Dr Liz Goodwin has called for a "major combined effort" with retailers, brands, governments and consumers to work together towards a common goal. This could result in the UK halving avoidable food waste by 2025 compared to when we started work on this in 2007, thereby saving consumers and Local Authorities billions of pounds.

The top three foods that Britons are throwing away uneaten include every day essentials: bread, potatoes and milk. The equivalent of a staggering 24 million slices of bread, 5.8 million potatoes and 5.9 million glasses of milk are wasted daily. Chicken also made the top ten with the equivalent of 86 million chickens thrown away each year, despite being the nation’s favourite meat.

(CD/IT)