Wasted fruit and vegetables add to Britain's CO2 emissions

Valerie Elliott and Jonathan Weir, The Times 8 Apr 08;

Apples are the latest symbol of the throwaway society, with 4.4 million dumped in household bins every day, or 179,000 tonnes a year - almost a third of the 600,000 tonnes bought.

The figures were released yesterday by the Government’s waste advisory body, the Waste Resources Action Programme (Wrap) as part of the campaign to tackle food waste and help to reduce the nation’s CO2 emissions from food in landfill sites.

An analysis of bin contents from 2,000 homes in 11 local authority areas has shown that a mountain of wasted fruit and vegetables is being created across Britain.

Full results of the survey are to be published next month, but its initial findings show that food waste accounts for 40 per cent of all household rubbish.

Besides apples, households are also dumping 5.1 million potatoes a day, 2.8 million tomatoes, 1.6 million bananas, and 1.2 million oranges. These were not scraps or peelings but whole items in good condition.

Wrap revealed before Christmas that about 6.7 million tonnes of food a year is dumped in bins. This represents a third of all food bought for consumption at home and is worth a total of £8 billion, or an average £400 for every household.

However, by preventing this scale of food waste about 15 million tonnes of CO2 emissions a year would be saved, the equivalent of taking one in five cars off the roads.

The organisation has also been investigating why households are wasting so much fresh food. It has found that the main reason is that people do not eat fruit and vegetables before they start to go off. The problem is being exacerbated by failure to store fresh produce properly. Consumers are being urged to buy less food and to keep most fresh fruit and vegetables in the fridge.

Liz Goodwin, Wrap chief executive, said: “These dramatic figures show that although we are all keen to do the right thing, buying plenty of fruit and vegetables, the benefit is clearly being lost when food gets thrown out untouched.”

Fruit industry experts were alarmed to hear of the scale of fresh fruit being dumped. Adrian Barlow, spokesman for English Apples and Pears, said: “I am surprised by the numbers because apples are not that sensitive. They will last up to ten days in room temperature, though admittedly their shelf life extends to two weeks if apples are kept chilled. Most bags are already labelled with information for consumers to store apples in the fridge. This retains their eating quality over a longer period and ensure the fruit does not go soft.

“I also suggest that people should buy apples in smaller quantities. You don’t need to buy a bag because you can buy apples loose everywhere. People should also take care how they handle apples because they will bruise if they are banged or dropped.”

A mixed fruit bowl as a standard adornment in a kitchen or sitting room may also be a casualty of the Wrap offensive, Mr Barlow said. “Many people don’t realise that you should never store apples next to bananas. Bananas give off a lot of ethylene gas. This causes skins to blacken and induces further maturing in other fruit. If people are going to mix fruit in a bowl, make sure it is eaten that day.”

Peter Ainsworth, Conservative spokesman for environment, food and rural affairs, said: “It is environmentally and morally offensive that as a society we have become so casual about the raw materials of life.”