Down the plughole - Britain's wasted food and wine

The United Kingdom pours away £2.7 billion of food and drink each and every year according to new research from the Waste & Resource Action Programme  (WRAP) including £470 million of wine (hic!), £250 million of milk (Miaow) and £120 million of soup. The waste, which would weigh some 1.8 million tonnes, could mostly have been avoided through better planning according to WRAP. According to household waste diaries kept by 319 families across the country, milk is the biggest source of waste followed by fizzy soft drinks, fruit juices and smoothies - even making a cup of tea can be wasteful with estimated £100 million worth of tea poured away. The average cost of waste house in each household is now £50 a month, up from £35 last year - and in a recession! WRAP had previously campaigned against the waste created by unwanted 'buy one get one free' campaigns and now wants urgent action to curb the waste going into our drains - starting with asking families to use less, to freeze what leftovers they can and also suggesting solutions like using unwanted wine in cooking.From The Times which has a great new Blog, Green Central, online at www.timesonline.co.uk/greencentral