The Food We Waste in Scotland
This report from Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) Scotland finds that the country disposes of £1 billion (US$1.6 billion) in food every year, much of which could be avoided with better planning or storage.
From a recent article on the report:
The report claims Scottish households throw out 570,000 tonnes of food and drink each year, most of which could have been avoided if it had been planned for, stored or prepared better.
This is a loss to the average household of £430 every year (US$703), or families with children it is higher at £550 (US$900). Half of the good food thrown out for council collection was whole and uneaten, with one in seven items still in their packaging. One of the worst parts of the survey revealed that at least £18m worth of food and drink was still within its ‘use by’ or ‘best before’ date.
Based on a survey of 1,169 homes across Scotland, the most common items thrown away were milk (31,000 tonnes), sliced bread (25,000 tonnes), fizzy drinks (23,000 tonnes), potatoes (19,000 tonnes) and ready meals or snacks (14,000 tonnes).
The report goes into extensive detail about the nature of the food waste, as well as proposing real-world solutions to reduce the amount of food wasted.
