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Written question asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Labour), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Lord Brabazon of Tara (Non-affiliated) on Monday, 27 February 2012.

House of Lords: Food Waste

Question
To ask the Chairman of Committees what was the estimated amount of food waste generated by House of Lords food outlets in each month since April 2010; what plans are in place to limit food waste; what are the current arrangements for disposing of food waste; and what plans exist for a more environmentally sustainable food waste strategy for the future.
Answer

The estimated food waste generated by House of Lords outlets in each month since April 2010 is shown in the table below.

Month Total cost of waste
April 2010 1991.45
May 2010 1731.14
June 2010 3244.10
July 2010 3215.31
August 2010 0.00
September 2010 2868.03
October 20 10 2608.85
November 2010 2685.65
December 2010 2427.67
January 2011 3134.28
February 2011 2492.3 I
March 2011 3517.48
April 2011 1242.23
May 2011 2442.29
June 2011 2560.42
July 2011 2341.93
August 2011 0.00
September 2011 1930.16
October 2011 3469.17
November 2011 6725.15
December 2011 3029.73
January 2012 2800.84
Total 56458.19

The above figures represent prepared unsold food waste at cost value that cannot be reused or recycled. To put this into perspective, total food waste for the period above is 3.2 per cent of total food consumption. The highest proportion of food waste is from the cafeterias and self-service outlets. Catering and retail services seek to reduce the amount of food waste generated through the use, where appropriate, of pre-prepared ingredients and careful menu management. Food waste is also controlled by reuse, and approximately 50 per cent of unsold prepared food products are either recycled through other outlets or reused (subject to food safety procedures). Unsold food waste is either bagged or passed through a commercial waste disposal unit which extracts most of the water content, resulting in a dry mass which is bagged. The food waste is currently disposed of as part of the mixed general waste stream. This waste is sent to a local facility where energy is generated from incineration. None of the food waste produced is sent to landfill. For the future, work is now under way with Parliament's new waste management contractor to increase composting rates for food waste in preference to incineration.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
15582; 735 c273-4WA
Session
2010-12
Subjects
House of Lords Food Waste disposal Waste
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk