Meanwhile experts at the Reuters Food and Agriculture Summit in Chicago this week said an estimated 30 percent to 50 percent of the food produced in the world goes uneaten. The average American throws away 33 pounds of food each month according to the Natural Resources Defense Council. In a year, that means each person throws away almost 400 pounds of food.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that 23 percent of eggs ends up in the trash. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said 33 million tons of food waste hit landfills and incinerators in 2010, the largest solid waste product in the system.
Source
British households throw away 4.4m tonnes of edible food a year, estimates suggest - and bread is the most wasted provision of all. 32% of bread purchased by UK households is dumped when it could be eaten. 680,000 tonnes of "avoidable" bakery waste is disposed of each yea, 80% of it from packs that have been opened but not finished.
Wasted Food in UK
Bread | 32% |
Vegetables | 24% |
Potatoes | 24% |
Fruit | 20% |
Cereal products | 17% |
Desserts | 14% |
Meat and fish | 13% |
Dairy and eggs | 8.5% |
Soft drinks | 7.1% |
Alcoholic drinks | 6.3% |
Source
1 comment:
Waste in any system can be reduced but not completely removed. Education is the best solution but who is responsible for educating the public?
Post a Comment