Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
WILTY AS CHARGED
1 in 10 let food go to waste ..with tons of salad rotting
BREAD, milk and salad leaves are the most wasted food items in Britain, a survey reveals.
A fifth of the fresh food we buy is binned, adding up to an annual 4.5 million ton waste mountain.
One in 10 adults polled admitted they were guilty of piling more into their baskets or trollies than they would eat.
And more than one in 10 allowed fresh products to go past their use by date, according to the research by supermarket chain Waitrose.
It found that even though two thirds planned their supermarket shop, one in five still got it wrong and threw out items they had over-bought.
Overestimating portion sizes and buying fresh ingredients for recipes by top chefs or dishes trending on social media but failing to make them, were also cited as reasons for wastage.
Worryingly, one in five adults confessed they did not feel guilty binning fruit and vegetables and one in 10 even admitted they
“didn’t think twice” about it.
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Yet three quarters said they were raised not to waste food, the poll of 2,000 found.
Bananas, strawberries, potatoes and tomatoes also ended up in the bin along with meat, fish, eggs, cheese and yoghurt.
Marija Rompani, director of ethics and sustainability for the John Lewis Partnership store said: “Nobody buys food with the intention of throwing it in the bin.
“But with UK homes discarding 4.5 million tons of it every year, we clearly need to take more action.
“Food waste creates six times more greenhouse gases than aviation. When we throw food away, we waste the precious resources it has taken to grow, package and transport it.
“And as it rots in landfill, it produces methane, a greenhouse gas more potent than carbon dioxide.
“So the simple action of throwing food in the bin has more of a negative impact on our planet than people often realise.”