Environmental analysis news: Households 'wasting 8.3 billion tonnes of food every year'

UK households waste approximately 8.3 billion tonnes of food every year, it has been revealed.

Emma Marsh, local communications manager at WRAP, said this equates to around £12 billion worth of products annually.

Although supermarkets are responsible for some of the food waste, she noted that many are have signed up to the Courtauld Commitment and are "making big inroads into this now".

"For example, Sainsbury's sends a lot of its food waste to anaerobic digestion and it gets turned into compost – that can be a really good way of doing it," Ms Marsh explained.

She added that instead of sending food to landfill sites, supermarkets are using it to generate electricity.

According to WRAP, the UK could save around 20 million tonnes of carbon dioxide every year by making an effort to cut down on food waste.

Written by Joseph Hutton