Who creates food waste?

1. Uneaten food and food preparations wastes

2. Uncooked and expired food

3. Flowers, rotten fruits and vegetables

4. Teabags, eggshells and coffee grounds

Different sectors in the retail and consumption stages of the food chain contribute to immense food wastage.

Unsurprisingly, the highest contributor to food waste in the country.

Restaurants, cafes and other food services waste £3.2 billion worth of fresh meals every year. Naturally, businesses will not intend on wasting food on purpose but habits such as over-preparing food, improper storage of food and produce, over-buying ingredients and poor stock management all contribute to food waste. In addition to this, hospitality businesses also are responsible for throwing away leftovers and uneaten food they serve to their customers.

Butchers

Food waste is created in the meat industry in a variety of ways, including waste from slaughterhouses, butcheries and meat processors. According to research, the UK throws away 34,000 tonnes of beef every year.

Food wastes in butcheries emanate from bones, blood, internal organs and unused fat, expired or unsold stock. Improper disposal of meat-based food waste is a threat to animal and human health. In the UK, butcheries should adhere to Environment Protection Act and Animal by-Products Regulations 2013.

Bakeries

Bakeries are another huge contributor to food waste in the country. In the UK, consumers typically only want to buy bread that has been baked that day otherwise they fear it will be stale. For this reason, many bakeries throw away a high volume of bread and baked goods due to overproduction or lack of demand. Food waste in this sector includes bread, dough, icing, cakes, sugar, flour and other confectionery products.

Bread is among the top three most wasted foods in the UK. About 1.2bn edible slices of bread are thrown away each year.

Households

It is important to highlight, food waste is not just created by commercial businesses. Many domestic households do not realise how much food waste they create. Statistics show that families throw away about 22% of their weekly shopping contributing to 50% of food waste in the country. How is this food wasted? Lack of proper meal planning, impulse buying, poor storage and cooking too much are common culprits.