Nearly 500 Containers of Food Costing £14 Million Thrown Away Every Year in South and East Cambridgeshire (South East Cambridgeshire Liberal Democrats)

South East Cambridgeshire Liberal Democrats <info@secambslibdems.org.uk>

Nearly 500 Containers of Food Costing £14 Million Thrown Away Every Year in South and East Cambridgeshire

November 24, 2007 12:09 PM

Liberal Democrats say that food thrown away by households in South and East Cambridgeshire every year is enough to fill the equivalent of nearly 500 40 foot sea containers.

Government statistics show that last year 6.7 million tonnes of food was thrown away by UK households - an average of 112kg per person - on top of the waste food, fats and oils from canteens, restaurants, fast food outlets, shops, hotels, schools, abattoirs and food manufacturers.

Applied to the 105,000 population of the council districts of South and East Cambridgeshire, just household food waste alone represents 11,760 tonnes - enough to fill 490 ISO 40 foot containers!

Jonathan Chatfield Lib Dem Parliamentary spokesperson for South East Cambridgeshire says:

"Liberal Democrats did this calculation to show just how shocking and wasteful society is now with food.

"The average weight of food thrown away each year is more than the average person's body weight.

"Moreover, the estimated cost of this food is £133 per person. That's nearly £14 million pounds being thrown away every year by residents in South and East Cambs.

"This is on top of the food packaging that is thrown away, 40% of which cannot be recycled according to a recent survey of supermarkets by the Waste and Resource Action Programme.

"That's why Lib Dems are backing WRAP's Love Food Hate Waste campaign which is not only bringing people's attention to the amount of food they throw away, also offering advice on what can be done to reduce it."