The report, The Water and Carbon Footprint of Household Food Waste in the UK - jointly published by WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme) and WWF recently - found that water used to produce food that householders in the UK then waste represents 6% of the UK’s water requirements (6.2 billion cubic metres per year).
The 6.2 billion cubic metres of water used unneccessarily to produce this food that householders waste every year is nearly twice the annual household water usage of the UK. The same wasted food also represents 3% of the UK’s domestic greenhouse gas emissions. Thats the same as are created by 7 million cars each year!
By discarding that food, the water and energy that was used to grow and process those foods is not recovered, giving off greenhouse gas emissions that could have been avoided.
The report also goes on to identify the countries of origin for wasted food because we import alot of our food from arid areas of Spain, Kenya and Israel, and so it should be thought about in the context of water scarcity in those regions too.
By home composting food waste you are preventing the emissions associated with landfill gas but its even better to prevent food waste in the first place because then you can save money but also prevent all this water usage too.
The 6.2 billion cubic metres of water used unneccessarily to produce this food that householders waste every year is nearly twice the annual household water usage of the UK. The same wasted food also represents 3% of the UK’s domestic greenhouse gas emissions. Thats the same as are created by 7 million cars each year! By discarding that food, the water and energy that was used to grow and process those foods is not recovered, giving off greenhouse gas emissions that could have been avoided.
The report also goes on to identify the countries of origin for wasted food because we import alot of our food from arid areas of Spain, Kenya and Israel, and so it should be thought about in the context of water scarcity in those regions too.
These figures are quite staggering. The water footprint for wasted food – 280 litres per person, per day - is nearly twice the average daily household water use of the UK, 150 litres per person per day.
By home composting food waste you are preventing the emissions associated with landfill gas but its even better to prevent food waste in the first place because then you can save money but also prevent all this water usage too.
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