The average purchase cost of preventable food waste per student in the UK is £273 per year
Waste has become one of the triggering issues that define the sustainability of the current food system. Up to half of the globally produced food is never eaten and, in the UK, 12 million tonnes of food is thrown away each year, most of it avoidable. Catering and hotel companies generate around 900,000 tons of food waste each year, of which about 13% is produced in the educational field.
A third of the food produced worldwide for human consumption is wasted each year, and in the UK alone, 250,000 tonnes of food is wasted each year, yet still enough to eat. This translates to 650 million servings of food wasted while 8.4 million of her people in the UK are going hungry.
"Globally, between 30% and 50% of food produced never reaches a human stomach"
- Global Food Waste Not Want Not report, 2022
The University Caterers Organization (TUCO) carried out an investigation in 2017 where the focus groups are mainly people who work in university caterings and experts in the area of food waste also. According to this research, a major barrier of food waste in universities are the students engagement: "While it’s likely that a minority of environmentally aware students will care about the food they waste, 88% of survey respondents say that student engagement remains a major challenge".
Another challenge that leads to food waste is also related with the meal diversity that's offered in universities. Many English universities state that they have the obligation to offer a wide selection of meals throughout a full service session, which highly increases the risk of leftovers at the end of the meal.
Zero Scotland made a research in collaboration with St. Andrews University and the author of this research Cat Acheson asked 155 students about their feeding habits and if they waste food. Most of them said that sometimes the throw food to the bin because they don't like the food, they cooked too much of it, the food was expired or they bought too much food.
For the students, it would help to waste less food if they watch posts or videos on social networks as Twitter, Instagram or TikTok. If they learn something about that topic on their degrees or if their friends or family encourage them not to waste food.
Today, Baltic N´ Dock interviewed different students that currently study and live in Liverpool about food waste and how they manage it.
Some of the questions were if they think they waste food, what solutions they use for this problem, if they use food-waste apps, if they know how to buy in a responsible way... among others.
Pablo and Nacho in the interview / Baltic N´Dock
Some of the answers were hopeful, but on the other hand it also proves that there's more to do when it comes to food waste.
"I use Tupperware as much as I can, and if I'm not going to use I'll try to give it away to somebody who needs it".
- Ana Serrano, University of Liverpool student
Selma and Mariola after the interview / Baltic N´Dock
Overall, the answers reveal that students between 21-23 years usually don't use methods to prevent food waste. A 60% of the interviewees admit that they waste food at home, while the 40% state that they don't consider themselves people who waste food. Another shocking fact is that the 100% of the interviewees admit that
To see the final results, see the full video and their answers in our TikTok Channel!
Do you think that you waste food? What's your opinion? Let us know!
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