Campaign to stop food waste is working

Householders are eating up a campaign designed to cut the quantity of food going straight in the bin, according to its organisers.


The Love Food, Hate Waste campaign aims to provide tips and encouragement to those wanting to cut down on food waste, and therefore their shopping bills.

Run by Government-funded Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP), the campaign was launched in 2007 and claims to have helped close on two million households reduce their food waste, amounting to savings of almost £300 million and stopping 137,000 tonnes of waste going in the bin.

While the statistics are impressive, they are a mere drop in the ocean against the true scale of the problem.

WRAP suggests that 6.7 million tonnes of food is thrown away from UK homes each year – a third of the food we buy – and this costs us £10 billion annually.

Liz Goodwin, chief executive of WRAP, said she was encouraged by the impact the Love Food Hate Waste campaign has been making: “At a time when every penny counts, saving nearly £300 million is a great achievement for hard pressed consumers.

“Food which ends up in landfill produces damaging greenhouse gases and is a terrible waste of resources. We’re delighted that the Love Food Hate Waste campaign is helping individual households enjoy more of their food, help the environment and save money.”

She continued: “We recognise that although the results of the first year are encouraging, there is much more to do, and we’re confident we can continue to support the growing number of households cutting back this waste.”

The campaign has been promoting practical advice and tips to help people make the most of the food they are buying, and waste less of it.

Many of these can be found on its website.

Sam Bond

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