The UK wastes millions of tonnes of food every year: here’s how we can change that

Thanks to Dr Karen Luyckx (Feedback Global) and Dr Phil Baynes (Baynes Nutrition) for their generous contributions and to Professor James Wood (Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge) for his advice. Thanks also to Francesca Re Manning (Global Food Security IRC, University of Cambridge) and Abigail Youngman (Annual Food Agenda EIT Food, University of Cambridge) for their organisational support.

Christian Reynolds receives funding from UKRI, AHRC, STFC, NERC, and BBSRC; as well as from the Alpro Foundation. Christian Reynolds worked for WRAP from 2017-2020.

Food waste is a huge problem for the environment. Making and getting rid of excess food accounts for around 8-10% of greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, if global food waste were a country, it would rank third in the world for greenhouse gas emissions after China and the US. Globally, we throw away around a third of all food we produce.

Food waste starts on farms, which often produce more food than is needed in order to protect against the risk of bad weather, disease, and variable supermarket sales. Consumers tend to be fickle in their tastes, be it due to the weather or what’s just been featured on popular TV cooking shows. Grocery stores strive to respond to these changing demands, passing last-minute orders to farmers who are expected to deliver as soon as possible. Unfortunately, this is only achieved by producing far more food than is necessary.

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