Food waste: Food for thought

Editorial
The Guardian, Thursday 17 December 2009
When the headlines are dominated by the big politics struggle in Copenhagen there is something reassuring about being shown a relatively minor change in the way we live that could make a significant contribution to lowering greenhouse gas emissions. In Trafalgar Square yesterday, as the temperature dropped and the snow flurried to the ground, 5,000 meals were prepared from food that would otherwise have been wasted because it was approaching its use-by date, or which had been rejected on aesthetic grounds by supermarkets at the farm gate. It was a smart stunt that underlined again the absurdities of both our food system and our domestic habits, guaranteed to set up a twinge of unease in the conscience of even the most sanctimonious composter and recycler.
Not wasting food will not save the planet. But it could make a real contribution. Wrap, the anti-waste organisation, has just updated the startling evidence it uncovered two years ago that showed how every household wasted on average £420-worth of perfectly good food a year (and more if there were children at home). Wrap's new figures show that even after the media attention its report provoked, we are wasting more than ever before – £480 a year per family or, nationwide, 8.3m tonnes. Part of the explanation for the increase is that these figures now include an allowance for food waste that is composted, or liquids that are poured away. But still our biggest sin is buying too much, followed by cooking too much as well. And then we compound the problem by failing to keep tabs on food in the fridge and simply letting it rot. This is partly about how we value food: it might be mere fuel for teenagers but for many adults, for at least some of the time, buying and preparing food is an act of love. It is about giving, about generosity of spirit in the intimacy of home and family. Changing our ways is only partly about being more efficient (making lists, menu planning, using leftovers). It is also about revaluing the world.
The waste starts at the beginning of the supply chain – the energy inputs used in producing the food and getting it into the shops. Last week, the government's Sustainable Food Commission produced a controversial programme for a more earth-friendly diet that included suggesting we all eat less red meat and fewer dairy products because of the high cost of cattle and sheep in greenhouse gas emissions. But before all the rest of Britain's small farmers are squeezed off the land, it might make sense to stop producing food that is not sold, and committing waste to landfill where it produces methane. Halving the amount we bin could have the same effect as taking one in four cars off the road. Parsimony is the new giving.