"Around one third of food grown for human consumption in the UK ends up in the rubbish bin, new figures reveal. Statistics from the government and food industry show each adult wastes food to the value of £420 each year. Changes in people's habits and scares over food safety are helping wastage to increase by 15% every decade, the BBC's Costing the Earth found."
The programme (Thurs 9pm) went into more detail and actually put the figure at up to 40%. But the news report gives the gist. Explanations are -
McDonalds Voucher Booksteeler Most people are aware of the effects of crack sugar, and yet some of them still...
"BBC rural affairs correspondent Tom Heap said demands for "pristine looking" produce means a lot of food does not make the grade and never leaves the farm gate. People are eating out more and the catering industry throws away one third of all they buy, he said. A lack of time or knowledge to use up leftovers is also to blame for increasing food wastage. Observers say scares over food safety means people bin food too readily."
What can I say? The prog also mentioned the decline in the relative cost of food in people's overall budgets. And desire for supermarkets to have full-looking shelves - they'd rather throw sandwiches away than sell out. And the "two for one" offers etc which lead to wasteful buying etc.
We could add the decline of veg gardening and thus the compost heap-bin. And the spread of very large fridges in which food gets forgotten. And probably some more. But I'm too depressed - especially at the lack of knowledge to use up leftovers. -- Phil C.
