Household food waste arisings could fall by another 15 million tonnes (Mt) by 2025, the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) has estimated.

Speaking yesterday (5 February) at the Fresher for Longer conference in London, WRAP CEO Dr Liz Goodwin told the audience that with increased effort, it could be possible to prevent up to another 15 million tonnes of avoidable household food waste (food that could have been eaten) by 2025. This could save householders £45 billion.

According to WRAP’s most recent report on food and drink waste, UK householders throw away 4.3Mt a year, amounting to £12.5 billion in costs per annum. Of this, around half ‘goes straight from our fridges or cupboards to the bin’ without ever making it ‘onto our dinner plates’.

But despite the report showing an overall drop in avoidable food waste since 2007, and a recent WRAP survey finding a 21 per cent increase in food waste awareness amongst consumers since November,Goodwin said she was ‘bitterly disappointed to see that the rate at which food waste is falling is now slowing’.

As such, she called on everyone to ‘up their game’ and back a call to halve avoidable household food waste by 2025.

Future WRAP work

Goodwin outlined that to help understand why food waste reduction levels are slowing down, WRAP will be soon commencing work that will identify ‘what groups of people waste different types of food and why’, and look at how much of this food is ‘still in date and in pack’.

Further, over the next two years, the body will roll out Love Food Hate Waste (LFHW) campaigns across 10 cities nationwide to create ‘more opportunities for significant food waste reductions in the UK’. The plan follows on from the ‘success’ of a LFHW campaign run by the London Waste and Recycling Board, GLA, WRAP, and the West London Waste Authority, which helped residents reduce avoidable food waste by 14 per cent in six months, saving up to £8 for the authorities for every £1 spent on the campaign. Goodwin called the achievement “a welcome return on investment in these difficult times”.

She added that LFHW will be “revitalising and reinvigorating the campaign and its messages” with the aim of extending the campaign’s reach.

‘Low hanging fruit has long since been picked’

She said: “All of us could make a difference if we wanted to – collectively, we have huge cut through with decision makers and business, and we have the ability to help consumers take the action we know they want to.

“I am simply not prepared to stand here next year and say we have not made real progress over the previous 12 months. Current momentum just won’t cut it, I am afraid.

“The low-hanging fruit has long since been picked; it is the areas that are harder to reach that need attention.”

Touching on the recent announcement that Zero Waste Scotland will be breaking away from WRAP this summer, and that WRAP is bidding for charity status (to ‘diversify its funding base’), Goodwin said: “Where there is change there is also consistency, as my commitment is that WRAP will continue to prioritise tackling food waste, right across the food loop.”

She concluded: “Great strides have been taken since 2007 to tackle food waste, and we can be proud of what has been achieved.

“This reduction has slowed, and we all have responsibility to make sure this trend does not continue. There is a burning platform here to tackle food waste so we must seize the moment.

“We have the power to halve avoidable food waste by 2025. Together, the opportunity is ours to take, and together we must step up to the plate to turn this opportunity into fruition.”

Scottish Government cracks down on food waste

The call to action comes just days after the Scottish Government launched a new national drive to reduce the amount of household food waste sent to landfill, and help householders save money.

According to the government, 630,000 tonnes of food waste is thrown away annually by Scotland, equivalent to £1 billion. However, by reducing the amount of food waste created (and recycling that which cannot be salvaged), the government says families can save around £40 a month, amounting to £470 a year.

As part of the national campaign, the Scottish Government is promoting food waste reduction tips via the Greener Scotland website, television advertising, media engagement, and through social media. It also aims to develop ‘partnerships’ with major retailers to help cut waste.

Find out more abut the food waste problem