WRAP raps UK food waste

23-Mar-2011 - Last updated on 16-Mar-2017 at 01:26 GMT

Related tags Greenhouse gas emissions Greenhouse gas

5.3m tonnes of UK food is wasted each year, representing 3% of the UK’s domestic greenhouse gas emissions, a new report from Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) claims.

The WRAP report – jointly published with the WWF – claims to identify the water and carbon footprint of wasted food in the UK for the first time highlighting the “major environmental consequences of food waste, both in this country and globally”.

Water used to produce food that householders in the UK then waste represents 6% of the UK’s water requirements, (6.2 billion cubic metres per year), said the report authors.

By discarding food, water and energy used to grow and process it is not recovered, giving off greenhouse gas emissions that could have been avoided, they added.

WRAP chief executive Liz Goodwin said: “There has been some progress already. Through WRAP’s work with retailers, food and drink manufacturers and local authorities, 670,000 tonnes of food waste were prevented between 2005 and 2009.

“That means we’ve avoided the waste of 670 bn litres of water, but there’s still more to do.”