Drink your milk!

Waste milk creates a carbon footprint equivalent to thousands of car exhausts, according to a study that highlights the environmental costs of inefficient farming and the aggressive marketing of supermarket food.

Scientists have calculated that the 360,000 tonnes of waste milk that is poured down British drains each year creates greenhouse gases equivalent to 100,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide, which is about the same as that emitted in a year by 20,000 cars.

Figures show that 99 per cent of milk that is thrown away by British consumers is designated as "avoidable waste".  Almost half of this waste is a result of too much being served, with the rest discarded for being sour or past its sell-by date. 

 

The scientists also found that if the developed world cut its consumption to Japanese levels – about half of that in the West – the cut in global greenhouse gas emissions would be equivalent to taking about 10 million cars off the road permanently.

The researchers concluded that reducing food and drink waste could have a significant impact on the greenhouse gases linked with climate change.

Dr David Reay at Edinburgh University, who led the study published in the journal Nature Climate Change, said: "At present about 30 per cent of food is wasted globally. If we can tackle this, it would be like taking about 20 million cars off the road permanently." 

For tips on avoiding waste visit www.lovefoodhatewaste.com