Householders in the UK generated an estimated two million tonnes of ‘avoidable’ food waste in 2012 – with expiry date labels on packaging to blame for a large part of this. T

he food label figures came in a report by the Waste & Resources Action Programme which estimated that 4.2 million tonnes of food waste was thrown away during 2012 from households. Almost half was believed to have been thrown away by consumers as they had not used it in time.

Of the food waste, 660,000 tonnes made up of yoghurt, eggs and fruit juice products thrown away as a result of expiry.

In addition, some 1.3 million tonnes was generated through a surplus in the amount cooked, prepared or served by consumers.