Think the Earth

About one-third of food bought is discarded without being eaten - a research institution has brought to light the actual situation of food waste in the UK.

This investigation conducted by the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP?ｼ? looked at solid wastes produced by 2,138 households in England and Wales. According to WRAP's test calculations, 6.7 million tons in all of UK, which is about one-third of the food purchased, end up in the bin each year. 4.1 million tons equivalent to 10.2 billion pounds (about 2.1 trillion yen) are edible food unnecessarily discarded, of which about a quarter is even untouched.

Food worth 86,000 yen for general households and 125,000 yen for households with children are thrown away without being consumed. Potatoes and bread make up a large part, but 440,000 items of ready-to-eat food, and 1.3 million yogurts and yogurt drinks are discarded unopened every single day.

In addition, WRAP announced that reduction of such food waste may have the same effect as deciding not to use 1 out of 5 cars, or approximately 18 million tons of annual CO2 emissions reductions.

Following the report, Joan Ruddock, UK's Environment Minister said, "These findings are staggering in their own right, but at a time when global food shortages are in the headlines this kind of wastefulness becomes even more shocking."