Households dispose of enough rubbish to fill Wembley Stadium

Tighter household budgets and soaring house prices has resulted in families being more careful with what they dispose off. However, people are still throwing away too much.

The study, carried out by the government’s Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) found that 8.3m tonnes of food was thrown out in 2007, this figure dropped to 7.2m tonnes in 2010.

WRAP also estimated that up to 60 per cent of the food that was disposed off was still fit for consumption.

WRAP’s chief executive, Dr Liz Goodwin, said, ‘Despite the reduction, the food we waste in homes which accounts for about half the UK’s food waste, is still worth £12bn a year as a result of food-price inflation.  The food that is being wasted throughout the supply chain is significant, at a time when food security is a major global issue.’

With Christmas just around the corner, it is estimated that families will bin around 230,000 tonnes of food over the festive period.

Richard Barker, CEO of food waste recycling firm BiogenGreenfinch, says, ‘Each Christmas we see a large increase in the amount of food sent to our three anaerobic digestion plants around the country.  In these austere times we would encourage households to realistically consider what they will purchase, store and cook over the festive period in order to reduce the amount of food wasted.’