Food Waste in The United Kingdom - Notes

Notes

1. ^ A figure of 18% for Wales is assumed by the authors; the composition of municipal waste indicates a lower figure for municipal waste (15.7%) but this included a significant proportion of non-household waste.
2. ^ The Scottish Environment Protection Agency gives a range of figures from Scottish local authorities for putrescibles with an average of 28% and with an average for ‘fines’ of 7%. The authors estimated food waste at 18% of household waste.
3. ^ Northern Ireland figures suggest a figure of 33% for all putrescibles in household waste. The authors assumed that approximately 14% would be garden waste, leaving 19% as food waste.
4. a b 'Avoidable food waste', in the context of this article, is considered to be food that, by following prevention measures, could have avoided becoming waste. Unavoidable food waste, by comparison, is food that cannot be saved from becoming waste due to its use; tea bags are unavoidably wasted because they cannot be used for other purposes. It is important to be aware that unavoidable food waste can often still be composted.
5. ^ 'Use by' is, according to the Food Standards Agency, 'the date up to and including which food may be used safely (cooked, processed or consumed) if it has been stored correctly'. 'Best before' by comparison is the date after which the food's quality may begin to deteriorate, although in most cases (discounting eggs) it remains edible.
6. ^ Since food waste is so rarely separated from municipal waste (only 2% was collected separately for either composting or anaerobic digestion) and comprises a significant proportion of it (around 20%), it can be assumed that the disposal of food waste follows the same trends as that of municipal waste, hence the use of Defra's municipal waste statistics.
7. a b A putrescible is commonly defined as 'a substance which is liable to undergo decomposition when in contact with air and moisture at ordinary temperatures'. Animal, fruit, and vegetable debris, and cooked food are included under this definition.