Each adult in the UK is binning close to £600 worth of food every year, a new survey has indicated.
The research was carried out by finance experts at My Favourite Voucher Codes , speaking to 612 people across the UK who do a food shop at least once a week for the poll. It found that shoppers threw away food with a value of £11 every week on average, amounting to £572 annually.
Four out of five people admitted that they had thrown away perfectly good food that could have been eaten or donated, according to Grocery Gazette . The most common factors for binning food were passing expiration dates and signs of mould.
READ MORE: Tesco, Aldi and Sainsbury's recall popular grocery items warning 'do not eat'
Fruit and veg is the biggest casualty when it comes to food waste according to the survey, with 74% - almost three quarters - of respondents saying that they had thrown these away. They were followed by dairy products at 66%, bread at 57%, and condiments at 41%.
“Food waste is an epidemic across the globe, but with over 9.5 million tonnes of food being chucked in the bin a year across the UK, there needs to be a concerted effort to combat this,” My Favourite Voucher Codes managing director Julian House said.
“Not only does it have significant financial implications against the backdrop of the current cost-of-living crisis, but the ethics behind wasting so much food, when others are struggling to feed their families – it doesn’t sit right with me.”
Supermarkets including Marks & Spencer and Waitrose have recently scrapped best before dates on a range of fresh products in a bid to combat food waste. The UK throws away 6.6 million tonnes of food each year according to waste management charity WRAP , three quarters of which would have been suitable to eat.
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