In May 2008, WRAP published a report saying that the cost of needlessly wasted food to UK households is £10 billion a year, £2 billion higher than previously estimated. The report finds that we throw away 6.7 million tonnes of food each year, when most of this food could have been eaten. It says that stopping the waste of good food could avoid 18 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents from being emitted each year - the same as taking 1 in 5 cars off of UK roads (NB - unless, one might add, we decide to spend the money saved on new i-pods or shoes).
By volume, the food we waste the most is the potato while the food that is bought and then thrown away uneaten in the greatest proportion is salad; in the UK 45% by weight of all purchased salad is thrown away (60% by cost).
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