Infographic shows full extent of food waste
The Manchester-based firm claimed that 1.3bnt of food is wasted globally per year, with the annual cost, not including fish and seafood, being £750bn.
The infographic (see below) also highlighted that 20–40% of all crops are discarded by farmers because they didn’t meet retailers’ standards.
Meanwhile, Tesco estimated 68% of salad is wasted globally. Tesco revealed that 35% of that waste occurred at home, when it was the first retailer to publish food waste figures, in October.
The retailer blamed food waste of fussy British shoppers.
Tesco, Sainsbury, Waitrose and Asda have all claimed to commit to ending buy-one-get-one-free promotions to help eliminate waste.
It also highlighted that, despite this waste, 870M people are undernourished globally.
Meanwhile, earlier this year, the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) claimed food and drink manufacturers were meeting waste reduction targets.
FDF members were on track to help reduce ingredients, product and packaging waste in the grocery supply chain by 3% by 2015 from a 2012 baseline, the FDF’s environment policy manager David Bellamy said.
This goal is part of the FDF’s Five-Fold Ambition to contribute to the Waste & Resources Action Programme’s (WRAP) Courtauld Commitment Phase 3.
The impact of Courtauld Commitment Phase 3 is predicted to be a cumulative reduction of 1.1Mt of waste, 2.9Mt of carbon dioxide and a cost benefit of £1.6bn to consumers, the food and drink sector and local authorities.
During the three phases of the Courtauld Commitment, a 20% reduction in household food waste could be achieved, WRAP claimed.
