Reducing the amount of household food waste, which is the largest source of food waste in the UK with serious environmental and social impacts, requires cross-sector collaboration. It’s not something that people can do alone: they need the right infrastructure, support and information to prevent waste in the first place.
Since 2007, we've tracked the amount of household food waste collected by UK Local Authorities (LAs) to monitor trends and understand how behaviours are changing, as well as how much food is still being thrown away.
These insights, alongside our research on the amounts, types and reasons for food waste at home, reveal the scale of what continues to end up in black bins. They show why government and business must prioritise prevention, ensuring people are supported not only to waste less food, but also to recycle any food waste that is created in order to minimise environmental harm.
Key results
- Between 2021 and 2022, the last two measurements, household food waste collected by local authorities fell by 9% (on a per-person basis).
- Between 2007 – when comparable measurements began – and 2022, there was a 22% reduction in household food waste.
- Across the UK, the amount of food waste in collections targeting food waste was 17% of the total. This means that 83% is still found in residual waste streams (those being incinerated or going to landfill from our black bins).
What needs to happen to reduce household food waste in the UK?
To reduce the amount of food that is wasted from our homes, we need collective action. While encouraging people to reduce the amount of food they waste is part of the problem, we also need other groups to play their part, whether that’s through how food is sold to us, the date labels on food, or initiatives that help us to see what we’re throwing away and its impact on our pockets and the planet.
Household food waste collections help people physically see what they’re throwing away, creating an opportunity for behaviour change. When paired with targeted interventions, collections can become more than a recycling tool – they can help reduce waste in the first place. Government and businesses should invest in designing, testing, and scaling behaviour-change interventions that help people understand why reducing food waste matters, ways to achieve it and how to dispose of what’s left properly.
Brands and retailers can also use food waste collection data to identify prevention opportunities, such as selling loose produce, reducing pack sizes and changing product date labelling to support households to waste less, not just recycle more.
Read the full findings and insights on the volume of household food waste collections in our latest report below.
Download files
-
Local Authority Collected Household Food Waste in the UK 2022
PDF, 1.23 MB
By downloading resources you are agreeing to use them according to our terms and conditions.
These files may not be suitable for users of assistive technology.