Love Food Hate Waste

Shropshire people are being reminded that they could save hundreds of pounds a year by simply cutting back on the amount of food that they waste. Research has shown that across the UK we throw away one third of the food we buy – most of which could have been eaten. The average household throws out £420 of good food a year. For the average family with children it’s higher at £610.

Shropshire Council and Telford & Wrekin Council have a launched a ‘Love Food Hate Waste’ campaign to help raise awareness of the issue, and to provide people across the county with information on what simple steps can be taken to waste less food, and save money as a result. The campaign is funded by the national Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP).

In the UK we throw away even more food than packaging. It’s like coming out of the shop with three bags of food and throwing one straight in the bin. We throw away 6.7 million tonnes of food each year, when most of this could have been eaten. Through this campaign we hope to show people that it is easy to cut food waste and that it makes financial and environmental sense to do so.

Most of the food thrown away ends up in landfill where it produces methane, a highly potent greenhouse gas. The energy used to produce, package, transport and deliver the food to our homes produces the equivalent of at least 15 million tonnes of carbon dioxide every year. Stopping the waste of good food could avoid this wasted energy and packaging as well as saving money.

Each day 1.3 million unopened yoghurt pots, 5,500 whole chickens and 440,000 ready meals are thrown away in the UK. It is estimated that £1 billion worth of wasted food is still “in date”. It is estimated that £1 billion worth of wasted food is still “in date”. For more information, advice and tips, please follow the link to the Shropshire Love Food Hate Waste website.

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