Interesting Fact - Waste
According to a report published by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, between 30% and 50% of the world's food goes to waste.
(This means around two billion tonnes, of the four billion tonnes of food produced around the world each year, ends up not being eaten, and half the food bought in Europe and the US is thrown away.
The reasons seem to range from poor engineering and agricultural practices, inadequate transport and storage, best before dates on food, and those notorious BOGOFF (buy-one-get-one-free) offers, that encourage consumers to buy more than they need.
I would say that in Europe it could be down to weekly shopping too. Once upon a time we bought food fresh from markets, but nowadays we do a weekly shop, and something is bound to go off in that time. My worst culprit is salad items. The number of half eaten cucumbers I've thrown away...)
(This means around two billion tonnes, of the four billion tonnes of food produced around the world each year, ends up not being eaten, and half the food bought in Europe and the US is thrown away.
The reasons seem to range from poor engineering and agricultural practices, inadequate transport and storage, best before dates on food, and those notorious BOGOFF (buy-one-get-one-free) offers, that encourage consumers to buy more than they need.
I would say that in Europe it could be down to weekly shopping too. Once upon a time we bought food fresh from markets, but nowadays we do a weekly shop, and something is bound to go off in that time. My worst culprit is salad items. The number of half eaten cucumbers I've thrown away...)
You can read the report here.
http://www.imeche.org/Libraries/Reports/IMechE_Global_Food_Report.sflb.ashx
http://www.imeche.org/Libraries/Reports/IMechE_Global_Food_Report.sflb.ashx