Category: News

In a country that is currently throwing away £13bn of food at home each year, many suggestions are being made on how to tackle the issue of wasted food. This figure doesn’t even consider the food waste created outside of the home, which is an equally large problem faced by the UK, and one being investigated currently.

Waste Resources Action Programme (WRAP) has been advising MPs, who are investigating how to cut food waste figures in the UK, and have suggested that pubs serving carveries should switch to smaller plate sizes.

Meals at pub carveries are sold at one set price for adults and are often self-serve, which leads people to fit as much food on their plate as possible, to get the best ‘value for money’ – or just because their eyes are bigger than their stomach, as suggested by Labour MP Angela Smith. More often than not, this results in leftovers of good food on plates, which then end up in the bin.

Continue reading Pubs told to shrink plate sizes in battle against food waste

In Denmark, one woman has been credited by the Government for single-handedly helping the country to cut its national food waste by 25 per cent in just five years.

Selina Juul, who moved to Denmark from Russia when she was 13-years-old, has always had an interest in the environment, sustainability and global responsibility. Viewing food waste as disrespectful, Juul set up a Facebook page in 2008 called ‘Stop Wasting Food’ (Stop Spild Af Mad, in Danish), and just one week later she was a national figure.

Continue reading How one woman cut Denmark’s food waste by 25%

7m tonnes of household food waste is thrown out per year in the UK, which is worth an estimated £7.5bn. A study by a national supermarket has found that younger people are more likely to be creating the majority of this waste than older generations.

The Sainsbury’s study concluded that there is a large generational gap regarding food waste. Over half of under 35s have a ‘live to eat’ mindset, placing more importance on the pleasure of food than its necessity, and conversely, the majority of those 35 and over fall into the ‘eat to live’ category. Only a third of over 55s ‘live to eat’.

Continue reading Millennials more likely to waste food, study finds

Ohio State University has released the results of a study of food waste, which observed the actions of restaurant diners. The results show that education is a successful tool in beating the production of food waste, however if people are informed their waste will be composted, the education benefits disappear and people are happy to waste as much food as those who are completely uneducated in the environmental impact of their waste.

Lead researcher Danyi Qi, a graduate student in agricultural economics at The Ohio State University, said of the matter:

“This presents a tricky situation for policymakers figuring out how to manage food waste, because the top tactics are prevention (through education) and diversion (through composting). When you do both, they cancel each other out — they work at cross purposes.”

Continue reading Food waste education is counteracted by composting education