British families will throw out around 185 million loaves of bread, 1.9 billion potatoes and 1.1 billion pints of milk every YEAR, a study has revealed. Researchers found the average household chucks 338kgs (745 lbs) of leftovers into the bin each year – more than 8.3 billion tonnes across the country.
Over-estimating how much food they need to buy, putting too much food on their plates and fussy kids refusing to eat what has been cooked are the main reasons for the massive waste.
Packets which are too big and leaving food out of the fridge or unwrapped are also among the excuses for throwing out food.
A spokesman for food waste disposal firm Insinkerator, which commissioned the research, said:
”Throwing away the odd bit of food might not seem like a lot, but when you add that up over a week or year, it’s a staggering amount.
”Not only is it horrible to see how much food gets wasted, both cooked and uncooked, but if you think of how much you spend buying that food in the first place, it can be quite unsettling.
”It can be easy to stock up when you are in the supermarket, especially if you are enticed with cheap deals or special offers, but if you don’t get around to eating that food, it just ends up as a waste of money.
”You either end up cooking more food than you really need to use it all up or throwing it in the bin before it’s even been prepared.”
The study of 2,000 adults found bread is the most common item to be thrown away, with households binning 136 slices on average – the equivalent of around eight loaves each or 185 million loaves across the UK – each year.
Almost 1.9 billion potatoes are thrown out – 76 per household – along with 1.5 billion whole or part eaten lettuces.
Families also chuck out 1.5 billion grapes, 1.4 billion bananas and 1.3 billion tomatoes each year.
Around 1.4 billion slices of cooked meats end up in the nation’s bins, while 1.3 cucumbers are also discarded without being eaten.
Other foods that often end up in the rubbish also include 1.2 billion yoghurts, 1.1 billion pints of milk and 934 million packs of raw or uncooked meats.
The study also revealed it’s not just uneaten fruit and veg that fill our bins, as six in ten families regularly fail to finish everything on their plates and end up scraping the left-overs into a waste bin.
And almost a fifth of all the food thrown away is made up of leftovers and cooked food that has gone uneaten – the equivalent of around three full plates of food each week.
60% of Brits admitted they don’t always eat everything that is put in front of them, with another 70% saying they usually have to scrape uneaten food off their children’s plates as well.
Almost one in three said they leave food because they have simply put too much on their plate, while another 19% don’t like the taste of what is put in front of them.
And when it comes to children, 41% leave something because they are too fussy to eat it.
Almost one in ten youngsters also refuses to eat food that has been burnt or overcooked.
Roast dinner scraps was named the most common leftover food to end up in the bin, followed by Chinese takeaway scraps and pasta bakes.
Other popular meals which often end up in the rubbish include fish and chips, stir-fry and risotto.
The study also found that 46% of Brits admitted they worry about the amount of food they throw away, with another 56% concerned about the cost.
Despite this, 55% admit they know they often cook too much food for their family.
It also emerged 62% of Brits think dealing with food waste is one of the most unhygienic and disliked jobs in the kitchen, while 56% see dealing with the food waste nothing but an inconvenience.
The spokesman added:
”It is incredible how much we leave on our plates, and how it all adds up. As they say as soon as you start to measure it, then you can start to do something about it; so many of us have no idea of the amount of left over food we throw away.
”Unsurprisingly, most of hate the messy business of binning left overs! It is disgusting, dirty, an inconvenience and very unhygienic.”
THROWN AWAY FOODSPER HOUSEHOLD, PER YEARUK HOUSEHOLDS, PER YEAR
Bread (slices) 1363.3 billion
Potatoes 761.9 billion
Grapes 601.5 billion
Bananas 571.4 billion
Ham/cooked meat (slices) 561.4 billion
Tomatoes 541.3 billion
Cucumbers 521.3 billion
Carrots 511.3 billion
Yoghurt 471.2 billion
Milk (pints) 461.1 billion
Apples 461.1 billion
Oranges 411 billion
Broccoli Florets 40984 million
Onions 39959 million
Lettuces 611.5 billion
Uncooked meat (packs) 38934 million
Cauliflower florets 30738 million
Leeks 30738 million
Peaches 27664 million
MOST COMMON THROWN AWAY MEALS
1. Roast dinner
2. Chinese takeaway
3. Pasta bake
4. Curry and rice
5. Fish and chips
6. Spaghetti bolognaise
7. Stir-fry
8. Lasagne
9. Risotto
10. Pies
posted on 12 June at 11:22
Check your facts - I think you mean 8.3 million tonnes not billion.