Monday Moaning

This is becoming more and more prevalent.

Food wastage.

Too much food is being manufactured, supermarkets and the like are over stocking and people are buying more than they need.

As a result, we have this!

Quarter of UK’s food thrown away ‘untouched’, waste figures show

Around 1m tonnes of food binned unopened at cost of £90 per household in UK, says Waste Resource Action Programme

Unopened food from a domestic household thrown away in a dustbin. Half of the ‘untouched’ food wasted is fresh vegetables and salad Photograph: Nick Ansell/PA

As much as one-quarter of the food that is thrown away by households in the UK is still “untouched” in its wrapping, analysis of waste figures shows.

This habit of regularly throwing away unused food, usually because it has been allowed to go past its eat-by date, is costing £2.4bn a year nationally or £90 per household. Such unopened food amounts to 1m tonnes of the 4m tonnes of wasted food each year, according to a new report from the Waste Resource Action Programme, a government-sponsored initiative.

Adding the value of food and drink that is partly eaten before being thrown away, or cooked and then binned uneaten, the total cost of wasted food rises to about £200 a year for the average person.

Of the unopened foods that end up chucked, about half is salad and vegetables. The waste is happening at a time when poorer and vulnerable people are reporting that they are cutting down on healthy fresh fruit and vegetables because they cost too much.

Wrap recommends simple actions including checking the fridge and cupboard before going shopping to avoid duplicating items, meal-planning and making a shopping list.

Food waste also adds indirectly to the cost of waste collections and landfill, Wrap notes, and to greenhouse gas emissions. The organisation is suggesting that each of us could choose just one bad habit to change.

Source: TheGuardian

Opinion:

Manufacturers who produce too much, supermarkets who stock too much, restaurants who cook too much  and people who buy too much, then throw away unopened/untouched  food ned to be fined.

We have to stop this wastage.

Any wastage needs to be curtailed, and the only thing that seems to work is hit their profits or pockets.

Manufacturers wasting produce – $100,00 fine, doubling for each subsequent fine.

Supermarkets and restaurants – $10,000 doubling the same.

Households – $1,000 and the same doubling.

Hit the profits or pockets and waste will soon reduce. People and companies will start buying or producing only what they need.