UK ranks top of EU food waste table
A new study has ranked the UK the worst for producing avoidable food waste.
Scientists at the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) assessed data from six national studies to determine the water and nitrogen resources lost in the EU due to consumer food waste. The researchers found that nearly 80% of all food waste is avoidable, with the UK the worst offender, throwing the equivalent of a tin of beans away per person every day.
Romania raked the country where food waste was the lowest, yet citizens still threw away food equivalent to an apple a day. Averaged over all the citizens of the EU together, this is 22 million tonnes of food annually.
The study found that the bulk of the avoidable food waste was vegetables, fruit and cereals, partly due to the shorter shelf life of these foods. However, wasted meat contributes more to lost nitrogen and water resources.
Speaking about the results, Davy Vanham, a lead author on the paper, said: “In some ways it’s good that this waste is avoidable, because it means we’re able to do something about it.
“Meat production uses much more resources in the first place, so even a little bit of waste can have a big effect in terms of lost resources.”
As the study only looks at six EU member states, the author cites this as a concern.
“Ideally, we’d like data from all the member states, but the data from the other countries is not as reliable. Certainly it would be useful if governments invested more in measuring waste with greater accuracy,” said Vanham.
The full results are published in the journal Environmental Research Letters.
