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News Index |
Food waste increase over Christmas
Food wasted in the UK increases by a massive 80 per cent during the Christmas period. This is according to new research by the Love Food Hate Waste campaign (LFHW) and the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP). This extra waste represents a staggering 230,000 tonnes of festive food, worth approximately £275 million.
In the UK, we already throw away one-third of the food we buy. The increase over the festive period is probably due to the sheer number of people being cooked for. At Christmas, 50 per cent of people cook for more than five people and 12 per cent cook for more than nine people. This makes buying the correct amount of food and getting portion sizes right even more challenging than usual.
The lack of awareness about how much food we waste is startling. Despite the proven waste increase, 68 per cent of consumers claim that no vegetables, not even Brussels sprouts, end up in the bin and 41 per cent say that not even a wing of turkey is wasted. LFHW aims to raise awareness of the reality of the food waste situation. It promotes eating leftovers, rather than just throwing them away. More careful calculation of portion sizes can also reduce the problem. Recipes for leftovers and a PerfectPortions calculator can be found at: lovefoodhatewaste.com
