14.01.14
Public ‘buy too much food’ – IMechE
Food waste over Christmas was exacerbated by supermarket pressure to buy more, a new survey from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) suggests.
One year on from the IMechE’s report on food waste, 70% of those polled said that they had been encouraged to increase their food purchasing, with 45% actually buying more as a result.
Offers, promotions and vouchers help to incentivise higher spending, which can lead to greater quantities of food being thrown away. A fifth of the people polled either wasted or threw away more than 10% of the food they bought over the festive period.
The survey also showed that 41% wasted or three away less than 10%, with more than a third saying they didn’t waste any at all. The older generation threw less food away.
The IMechE said that buying less food would be a key factor in dealing with population growth and called for a change in both consumer and retailer behaviour, as well as a need to improve processes and infrastructure in the food industry.
Dr Tim Fox, head of energy and environment at the IMechE, said: “This latest survey shows that UK shoppers still feel they are encouraged to buy too much food, despite significant progress on raising awareness of food waste in 2013, and some retailer action to reduce over-purchasing.
“There are various reasons why around a third to a half of all food produced in the world never reaches a human stomach, and while it would be wrong to lay all of the blame for waste with the supermarkets – deals like buy-one-get-one-free, ‘half price’ offers and various other price discounting methods do exacerbate the problem.
“It is certainly a concern that over a fifth of the people surveyed said they had thrown away more than 10% of the food they bought over the festive period. This food could be used to help feed those in hunger today, and is also an unnecessary waste of the considerable land, water and energy resources that were used in the production, processing and distribution of this food – resources that could be used to meet other human needs.
“If we are to have a sustainable future on a planet with over nine billion people on board it is important that everybody, from the Government and retailers through to consumers at home, tries to reduce the amount of food that is wasted and thinks about the land, water and energy resources involved in bringing food to the plate.”
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