Household food waste in the UK dropped by 9% from 2021 to 2022, saving around 400,000 tonnes of waste and offering a brief glimmer of hope for Net Zero.
But the progress is already stalling and WRAP says it’s nowhere near enough to meet global targets or slash climate emissions.
New data from the environmental action NGO shows households still throw away 6 million tonnes of food a year, 4.4 million of which is perfectly edible.
That waste is responsible for 16 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions and costs households £17 billion annually, or £1,000 per year for a family of four.
WRAP says the short-term drop was largely driven by two major shocks: Covid restrictions easing (meaning less food eaten at home) and surging food prices through 2022. Without similar pressure, food waste is rising again.
A shocking 83% of food waste ends up in general waste bins and is either incinerated or sent to landfill. Local authorities spent £500 million dealing with it in 2022 alone.
“This is a wakeup call that we all need to act,” said Catherine David, WRAP CEO. “It took the end of a pandemic and a cost-of-living crisis to get faster impact.”
The UK needs to cut household food waste by a further 36% by 2030 to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goal 12.3. WRAP is calling for urgent changes to retail practices, public policy and consumer behaviour.
That includes more loose fruit and veg, smaller pack options, changes to product labelling and better food storage advice.
Mary Creagh, Waste Minister, added: “A reduction in food waste is welcome, and we are clear further swift action is needed across the supply chain and in households to stop perfectly good food from being chucked away.”
WRAP’s new partnerships with Tesco, Ocado and councils will trial behaviour change schemes and boost food waste collections to help people visualise what they throw away.
Without action, says WRAP, food waste will remain a stubborn block to reaching Net Zero and a major source of climate-wrecking emissions.
