REAP Food
Waste
Report
GEOG: 3520
George Hallam
University of Leeds
1
Contents
1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 3
Food Waste in the Supply Chain ......................................................................................................... 3
Food Waste in the Supply Chain: UK Case Study ................................................................................ 4
Post-Consumer Food Waste ............................................................................................................... 5
Food Waste Management .................................................................................................................. 6
Research Aim ...................................................................................................................................... 7
Objectives ........................................................................................................................................... 7
2. Method ............................................................................................................................................... 7
Field site .............................................................................................................................................. 7
The Questionnaire .............................................................................................................................. 8
The Qualitative Questions .................................................................................................................. 9
Demographics of Questionnaire Respondents ................................................................................... 9
3. Results and Analysis ............................................................................................................................ 9
Qualitative Interview Responses ...................................................................................................... 14
4. Conclusions ....................................................................................................................................... 14
Limitations ........................................................................................................................................ 15
5. Acknowledgements........................................................................................................................... 15
6. Bibliography ...................................................................................................................................... 16
Appendix 1 ............................................................................................................................................ 17
Recommendations to REAP .............................................................................................................. 17
Appendix 2 ............................................................................................................................................ 18
Questionnaire ................................................................................................................................... 18
Appendix 3 ............................................................................................................................................ 23
Qualitative Food Wastage Survey ..................................................................................................... 23
2
1. Introduction
In recent decades there have been many attempts to quantify global food waste. This effort
is provoked somewhat by the need to emphasize its scale in relation to global malnutrition
and increasing food prices. Throughout the world as much as half of all food that is grown is
wasted or lost before and after it reaches the consumer (Lundqvist et al, 2008). For affluent
economies such as the UK, post-consumer food waste is responsible for the greatest overall
losses (Parfitt et al, 2010; Ventour, 2008). Food wastage contributes to the excess use of
freshwater and fossil fuels. The gases methane and CO2 that are created from the
decomposition of food waste augment the enhanced greenhouse effect (Hall et al, 2009).
Food Waste in the Supply Chain
The nuances of how and why food is wasted around the world vary dramatically; but the
idea of food waste remains much the same. In this report food waste in the FSC (Food
Supply Chain) is defined by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
(FAO) as “Wholesome edible material intended for human consumption, arising at any point
in the FSC that is instead discarded, lost, degraded or consumed by pests” (FAO, 1981).
Since the inception of the FAO in 1945 one of its main objectives was to reduce post-harvest
food losses as a way to combat world hunger. It set out to half post-harvest food wastage by
1985. The success of the program is debated heavily; there is no formal account of the
progress made towards the 1985 target (Parfitt et al, 2010). Recently there have been
renewed calls for post-harvest losses to be halved by 2025, casting doubt on whether the
FAO had any success in lowering post-harvest losses at all (Lundqvist et al, 2008).
The creation of food waste is partially due to the efficiency of a countries food creation and
transportation infrastructure as well as the agricultural market’s strength. Urbanisation has
been a large driver for changes in population density in developing countries over the last
century with 50% of the world’s population now living in urban areas, and another 20%
more expected by 2050 (United Nations, 2011). More transportation and marketing
infrastructure needs to be created to make enough affordable food available for low income
groups. This is often a struggle in developing countries (Parfitt et al, 2010). Also, as more
people move from rural areas to urban areas over time the amount of man power available
3
to run agriculture will dwindle. This is offset slightly though as a when a country develops it
usually increases its mechanisation of agriculture, lessening the need for man power.
Dietary changes over time are likewise a large issue in food wastage. As countries move
from developing to intermediate development status, household incomes grow. This allows
the consumers to have a much greater selection of food types. Often the amount of long
lasting starchy food staples such as corn or rice decline and diets become diverse with
shorter shelf life dairy, meat and fish products; all of which tend to have a greater land
footprint and use more resources (Parfitt et al, 2010). This transition is known as Bennetts
Law where by starchy staples become superseded by other food sources which become
available as household income increases (Bennett, 1941).
With globalisation increasing all the time due to heightened development, the amount of
food being transported long distances to satisfy the needs of a market will also increase. For
instance, the trade of processed foods internationally accounts for 10% of total sales
(United Nations, 2002). This brings opportunities for the export of agricultural goods.
However internal markets may struggle to compete with higher quality, cheaper imports
(Cox, 1997). The fact that the imports often travel a long way though means that even
before they are available to the consumer a large amount of their shelf-life has been
consumed whilst in transit. This is especially true of highly perishable foods such as fruit and
fish.
Food Waste in the Supply Chain: UK Case Study
It is difficult to find reliable food waste data from developing countries, however
industrialised countries often monitor their waste data allowing for detailed analysis. In the
UK, WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme), a company set up in 2000 with the
intention of helping recycling take off and creating a market for recycled materials monitors
food waste diligently and offers several interesting reports.
It’s projected that there is around 14 million tonnes (mt) of waste food and drink in the UK
every year. The manufacturing and processing sector creates around 5 out of the 14 mt. Of
that, 2.6 million tonnes are thought to be food waste, while 2.2 mt is designated for animal
feed (WRAP, 2010). It could be argued that this 2.2 mt of food waste is no longer food waste
but a recycled material as its use has been changed and it hasn’t been wasted.
4
The retail and distribution sector wastes a lot less, with 366 thousand tonnes (kt) per annum
(WRAP, 2010). The amount of food wasted by food retailers varies depending on the type of
retailer. Larger supermarkets create proportionally far less waste than their smaller
counterparts. This is because smaller supermarkets are usually used for “top-up” shopping
which makes consumer demand unpredictable leading to more frequent surpluses for food.
One of the main factors influencing UK food waste management is that a small amount of
the large retailers hold market power over 7000 smaller suppliers. Food manufacturers will
frequently create more food than is needed in case the large retailers ask for more at short
notice. If they do not manage to do this they will often be “de-listed” damaging the future of
the business (Parfitt et al, 2010). Manufactures of own brand products from supermarkets
can’t sell the products anywhere else so surplus production becomes waste. The
manufacturing and processing sector however has been shown to be proficient at reusing a
great deal of the food waste that is generated (C-Tech, 2004). To improve the resource
efficiency of the manufacturing and processing sector WRAP is continuing its research in the
FSC to find the greatest opportunities (WRAP, 2010).
Post-Consumer Food Waste
Collecting data on post-consumer food waste is somewhat harder than on the FSC. There is
very little literature on developing countries post-consumer food waste habits. Developed
countries have a lot more literature available, generated with varying methodologies for
collecting data such as the kitchen diaries, weighing food waste and behavioural studies of
thousands of participants using questionnaires (Ventour, 2008). Estimated post-consumer
food waste values can also be ascertained through statistical models based on population
demographics, body weight and metabolism (Hall et al, 2009). Historical food waste levels
have been created using archaeological digs at landfill sites as well as from loss coefficients
based upon previous research (Sibrián et al, 2006).
Household food waste can be defined differently to food waste from the FSC. In a WRAP
(2009) report the definition of household waste is broken down into 3; avoidable, possibly
avoidable and unavoidable. Avoidable household waste is food or drink that was edible in
most situations previous to being thrown away. Possibly avoidable household waste is food
or drink that has been thrown away but would have been considered edible to some but not
5
others e.g. bread crusts. Unavoidable household food waste is waste created during food
preparation that has at no point been considered edible (Quested & Johnson, 2009).
UK households waste around 6.7 mt of food every year, about one third of the 21.7 mt that
we purchase. Per household that is around 270kg, of that 170kg is deemed as avoidable
wastage valued at around £420 a year. In the UK as a whole, that equates to £10.2 billion, or
4.1 mt of avoidable wastage (Ventour, 2008). Fresh food is considered more likely to be
thrown away due to its short shelf life compared to processed foods Quested & Johnson,
2009; Parfitt et al, 2010).
The majority of this food waste is currently collected by local authorities (5.9 million tonnes
or 88%). Some of this will be recycled but most will end up going to landfill where it is liable
to create methane, a very powerful greenhouse gas 21 times more effective than carbon
dioxide at preventing infrared radiation from escaping the planet. Every tonne of food waste
is responsible for 4.5 tonnes of carbon dioxide (Hall et al 2009, Wang et al, 1997). The
remaining 800,000 tonnes of food waste not collected by local authorities is composted by
people at home, fed to animals or tipped down the sink (Ventour, 2008).
Food Waste Management
Food waste management has become very important over the last century. In the 1930s it
was shown that in the UK 1-3% of food waste wasted (Cathcart & Murray, 1939). Then in the
1980s this rose to 6.3% in the summer and 5.4% during the winter (Osner, 1982). Today
household food wastage in the UK has reached unbelievably high levels with 25% of all food
that is purchased being thrown away. This equates to around 20 mt of equivalent CO2 every
year (Ventour, 2008). Reasons for this high level of wastage can be attributed to a wasteful
society and an in
There are ways to combat the effects of mass food wastage. One way is the LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment). It covers the service provided by a household sink based food waste processor
(FWP) unit, and several alternatives to it (Lundie & Peters, 2005). These include landfilling
food waste with municipal waste, household composting and the centralised composting of
green (food and garden) waste. Household composting turns out to be the greenest food
waste option. It also encourages people to waste less food, households that compost or
have composted in the past waste less food than people who have never composted
6
(Ventour, 2008). Centralised composting involves too much energy-intense waste
collection, while landfill and FWP units make a large contribution to eutrophication and
toxicity potentials as well as wasting large amounts of water. It should be noted that If
operated without due care, home composting can create more greenhouse gases than all of
the other alternatives (Lundie & Peters, 2005).
Research Aim
The aim of this investigation is to gather qualitative and quantitative data on attitudes
towards food waste and to what extent it occurs in households and businesses operating in
Roundhay, Leeds. Food waste is large global issue which can be exceptionally detrimental to
the environment if not managed in the correct way. This data can then be assessed and
used to create recommendations for the charity REAP (Roundhay Environmental Action
Program) on how to address food wastage in their area of influence.
Objectives
1. To create a questionnaire to collect useful data on people’s attitudes and habits in regard
to food wastage in a quantitative way.
2. To create a set of questions for interviews to gather useful qualitative data from business
operations.
3. To analyse the data collected and use it to create recommendations for REAP so that they
can move forward with tackling the food waste issue.
2. Method
Field site
Roundhay is where the majority of the data was acquired (69% of questionnaires were
completed by people living in an LS8 post code) in this study. The data was collected via face
to face questionnaires, internet questionnaires and qualitative interviews. Roundhay is a
city council ward and large suburb in north-east Leeds, West Yorkshire with the majority of
its boundaries within the LS8 post code. The ward also contains Oakwood and Gledhow.
Roundhay had a population of 22546 in 2011 (Census, 2011).
7
The Questionnaire
Whilst designing the questionnaire, the research aim and objectives were deliberated so
that the data collected was both relevant and useful to the investigation (Kitchen & Tate,
2000). Questionnaires such as WRAP’s (2008) “The food we waste” were used analogously
for type of phrasing, structure and style. This was because they aimed to gather very similar
information to what this investigation aims to gather. The questions used in the
questionnaire were kept brief and devoid of subject specific technical language so that they
could be easily understood by anyone with basic literacy skills, therefore increasing the
scope of the questionnaire (Lindsay, 1997). Several headline facts about food waste were
included in the questionnaire brief. This was included to increase people’s interest in the
questionnaire, keep their attention and raising their awareness as to why the questionnaire
had been created (Oppenheim, 2009).
The questionnaire was distributed both online and face to face. Those who completed the
questionnaire online would have followed a link which was included in an ebullition which is
sent to 447 subscribers in the REAP community. People who filled the questionnaire out
face to face were present at the 16/03/13 Oakwood Farmers Market where data collection
was carried out.
Before releasing the questionnaire, it underwent several drafts and was looked over first
several times by the members of REAP supervising this investigation; Nigel Jones and Pat
Urry. Later it was presented to several Trustees of REAP for further criticism. This was to
make sure the questionnaire was coherent and ethically sound. It is important that the
criticism from the charity the questionnaire was being designed for is taken into account.
To reduce the amount of paper used, most of the surveys were carried out online via the
website “Surveymonkey.com” for which a link was provided in the ebullition. The surveys
that were collected face to face at the Oakwood Market were printed on each side of the
paper leaf so none was wasted. Each survey was filled out twice with different colour pens.
Though a tally chart could have been used, it was thought that some people might want to
temporarily take the surveys away and fill them out themselves, so individual surveys were
chosen instead.
8
A total of 77 questionnaires were collected in total; 25 from the Oakwood Farmers Market
and 53 from the ebullition. People reserve the right not to answer specific questions. Due to
this, some of the questions will have less than the 77 possible answers for it as people have
left them out or chosen not to complete them.
The Qualitative Questions
A qualitative questionnaire was also created to retrieve information on how businesses
operate around the food waste issue. Nigel Jones submitted several questions for this part
of the investigation. They were then changed slightly to make them more open ended to
increase authenticity (Silverman, 1993).
Demographics of Questionnaire Respondents
The questionnaire was aimed at a variety of respondents with different demographics so
unbiased conclusions with high resolution could be drawn from the data. However one
could say that people who have signed up for an environmental charity’s ebullition, or
attended an environmental charity’s farmers market would be more likely to be in touch
with the food waste issue than your average person. When completing the surveys face to
face people were approached at random to see whether they would like to participate. 53
out of 77 people (69 %) of the people taking the questionnaire were from within the LS8
post code. 54 out of the 76 people who took the questionnaire were female, 22 were male
so the sex ratio is quite unequal (1/2.5). The ethnicity of the respondents was almost
entirely White British with 71 out of 76 (93%) respondents answering thus. 2 (3%) answered
White-other and 1 answered for Black/Black Caribbean, 1 for Mixed-other and 1 for Asian /
Asian British- Pakistani.
3. Results and Analysis
The aim of this investigation is to gather data on the extent to which food waste occurs and
people attitudes towards it in Roundhay. In this section of the investigation the results will
be analysed and compared with academic literature. From the questionnaire it can be
9
determined that people think they waste very little food (See fig 3.1). The modal group
threw away 10% of all food bought (45 out of 76). Over a third of all the responses believe
they throw away 0% of the food they buy. These results differ from what would be expected
from the national average (Ventour, 2008). It is quite unlikely that anyone actually throws
away 0% of the food they buy, they may have misinterpreted the question or severely
underestimated the amount of food they dispose of. However the demographic of the
respondents of the questionnaire would be inclined to be more environmentally friendly
and might not waste as much food as the average UK household.
From another question we know why people are wasting their food. Figure 3.2 shows the
main reason food is wasted in the respondent’s household. Almost half (37 of 75) answered
with “Food is out of date” as the main reason food is wasted. “Too much food is prepared or
cooked” accounts for almost a quarter of the results (16 of 75). It is not surprising that
“Food is out of date” is the most common answer; people often don’t plan meals in such a
way that all the food they buy has defined use. Also as a developed society we have
followed Bennetts Law and diversified our diets from long shelf life starchy staples to low
shelf life fresh foods (Bennett, 1941; Parfitt et al, 2010).
From figure 3.3 we can see that the overwhelming majority of wasted food is fresh as
opposed to processed. this because processed food usually has a much longer shelf life and
is not degraded as quickly in ambient conditions as fresh food which needs to be kept in
refrigerated or in dark conditions (FAO 1981).
From a further question we can see how people dispose of their food waste. Figure 3.4
shows how a large amount of people compost their food waste (40 out of 77). Still a fair
amount of people put their food waste in the black bin liners (17 out of 77). The large
amount of people composting their food waste individually is excellent for the environment
in comparison to other food waste management techniques (Lundie & Peters, 2005). People
who compost waste less food overall compared to those that don’t (Ventour 2008). This
could be because the act of composting allows for a very realistic view of the amount of
food a person is throwing away, perhaps making them more aware of the quantity so that in
the future they work to lower that amount. The prominence of allotment owners who are
10
members of REAP and had access to the questionnaire might have helped increase the
number.
When it came to people’s opinions on food waste, one can see that the respondents are
most certainly bothered about the disposal of food. Figure 3.5 shows that well over half (48
of 75) are bothered “A great deal” by the disposal of food. Again in fig 3.6 over half of the
respondents of the questionnaire believe they put in “A great deal” of effort when it comes
to the minimisation of food waste. Around a third (25 of 77) of the respondents says they
put in “A fair amount” of effort.
Of all the food that is bought, how much food would you say your
household throws away in general?
Percentage of food thrown away
More than 60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
0
10
20
30
40
Figure 3.1 – A bar chart showing the amount of food a household throws away in comparison to what it buys.
11
50
What is the main reason, if at all, is food wasted
in your household?
Food is out of date
Too much food is
prepared or cooked
Food not appetizing
Other
Figure 3.2 – A pie chart showing the main reason respondents to the questionnaire throw food away.
Is food that is not used usually
processed or fresh?
Processed
Fresh
Figure 3.3 – A pie chart showing whether the food that is thrown away usually processed or fresh
12
If there is a surplus, what happens to it?
Other
Method of disposal
Disposed of via black
bins
Disposed of via sink
Composted
It is given away
0
10
20
30
40
50
Figure 3.4 – A bar chart illustrating how people dispose of their surplus food.
If you are disposing of food, to what extent does it bother you?
Not at all
Not very much
A little
A fair amount
A great deal
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Figure 3.5 – A bar chart showing people’s opinions on how much the disposal of food bothers them.
How much effort do you and other occupants of your house go to
minimise food waste?
Not at all
Not very much
A little
A fair amount
A great deal
0
10
20
30
40
50
Figure 3.6 – A bar chart showing how much effort the respondent and the respondent’s household puts into minimising
food waste
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Qualitative Interview Responses
The businesses have clear policies on how they manage food wastage
Small companies such as Haley and Clifford take a more relaxed but still appropriate
attitude towards it, letting employees take home surplus food etc. in the fish bar food is
made to order/
Larger companies like Co-op’s policies are stricter. They do everything in their power to
minimise food waste as it costs them money to dispose of it. For instance all the meat that
goes out of date must be sent to a specialised disposal company. The Sainsbury’s local said it
generated more food waste than a bigger Sainsbury’s because customer demand is hard to
predict.
4. Conclusions
It would seem that the people who answered the questionnaire are generally very
environmentally minded and already have a smaller food wastage foot print compared to
the rest of the UK. The respondents were concerned “A great deal” about the disposal of
food and minimisation of food waste. They may be underestimating the amount of food
they are wasting as it is unlikely such a large demographic would waste 0% of the food they
buy when the UK average is around 25% (Ventour, 2008) Perhaps having 0-10% in the
questionnaire as opposed to separate 0% and 10% answers might have helped clarify.
Food past its sell by date is the main reason that food waste is being generated. This is
expected as the UK is a developed society which has followed Bennetts Law and diversified
the populace’s diet from long shelf life starchy staples to low shelf life fresh foods which
need to be kept refrigerated and out of light (Bennett, 1941; FAO, 1981; Parfitt et al, 2010).
A large proportion of the questionnaires respondents answered that they compost their
food waste. As mentioned, people who compost their food waste generally waste less food
overall (Ventour, 2008). Composting is thought to be one of the most environmentally
sound ways of disposing of food waste when compared to landfill, communal composting
and sink based food waste processors (Lundie & Peters, 2005).
14
The qualitative interview results corroborated with literature. The point that smaller
supermarkets are creating more waste than larger supermarkets because of “top-up”
shopping which makes consumer demand unpredictable leading to more frequent surpluses
of food.
To conclude then, it is felt that REAP members and the Roundhay area in general already
has a good understanding of the food waste issue. This can be capitalised on in the future as
mentioned in the “recommendations” found in Appendix 1.
Limitations
There were many limitations to this investigation. As it formed part of an undergraduate
module there were not the funds, time or facilities available to carry out the research on a
suitably large scale so that truly significant results are gathered. Because of this the
investigation was kept to a scale that could be managed with what was provided.
Had there been more time the questionnaire could have been fine-tuned a little more, more
questions could have been added and the online version could have been given more
attention so that all the questions worked properly.
Also the word limit of this report constrains the amount of data that can be talked about. It
is felt that a 10000 word limit as opposed to 3500 could easily be used up. The 3500 word
limit does have a positive effect however as it forces the report writer to be concise and
consider only what is needed. The qualitative questionnaire was neglected in this report as
its inclusion would have taken up a large part of the limit.
Overall with the previous experience of surveys I think the whole investigation went very
well, and REAP has some exceptionally useful information to take away along with knowing
they helped a students learning experience.
5. Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Nigel Jones, Pat Urry and the trustees of REAP for their support and
feedback. Also I would like to thank my tutor Rachel Unsworth for offering me guidance
throughout the project.
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6. Bibliography
Bennett, M. K., 1941. Wheat studies of the Food Research Institute, 12:95-119
Cathcart, E. P., & Murray, A. M. T. 1939. A note on the percentage loss of calories as waste
on ordinary mixed diets. J Hyg (Lond). 39:45-50
C-Tech Innovation Ltd. 2004. United Kingdom food and drink processing mass balance: a
Biffaward Programme on sustainable resource use. Retrieved on 19/04/2012 from
http://www.massbalance.org/downloads/projectfiles/2182-00335.pdf
Cox, K. R. 1997. Spaces of globalization: Reasserting the power of the local. The Guildford
Press, New York.
FAO 1981. Food loss prevention in perishable crops. FAO Agricultural Service Bulletin, no.
43, FAO Statistics Division.
Hall, K, D., Guo, J., Dore, M., Chow, C. C. 2009. The Progressive Increase of Food Waste in
America and Its Environmental Impact. PLoS ONE, 4:7940
Kitchen, R. and Tate, N. J. 2000. Conducting research in human geography: Theory,
methodology and practice. Harlow: Prentice Hall.
Lindsay, J. M. 1997. Techniques in human geography. London: Routledge. pp-54
Lundie, S., Peters, G. M., 2005. Life cycle assessment of food waste management options.
Journal of Cleaner Production. Volume 13, Issue 3, pp:275–286
Lundqvist J., de Fraiture C., Molden D. 2008. Saving water: from field to fork—curbing losses
and wastage in the food chain. In SIWI Policy Brief. Stockholm, Sweden: SIWI.
Oppenheim, A. N. 2009. Questionnaire Design, Interviewing and Attitude Measurement.
London: Continuum. pp-109
Osner, R. 1982. Food Wastage. Nutrition & Food Science, 82:13-16
Parfitt, J., Barthel, M., Macnaughton, S. 2010. Food waste within food supply chains:
quantification and potential for change to 2050. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal
Society B: Biology, 365:3065-3081
Quested, T., Johnson, H. 2009. Final Report: Household Food and Drink Waste in the UK.
WRAP.
Sibrián, R., Komorowska, J., Mernies J. 2006. Estimating household and institutional food
wastage and losses in the context of measuring food deprivation and food excess in the
total population. Statistics division: Working paper series. No: ESS/ESSA/001e
16
Silverman, D. 1993. Interpreting Qualitative Data: Methods for Analysing Talk, Text and
Interaction. London, Sage
UK Census. 2011. Neighbourhood Statistics: Roundhay. Reteived on 21/04/13 from
http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadTableView.do?a=7&b=650
5406&c=roundhay&d=14&e=61&g=6373510&i=1001x1003x1032x1004&m=0&r=1&s=13665
52224090&enc=1&dsFamilyId=2491
United Nations. 2002. Commodity Trade Data Base. New York, NY: United Nations Statistical
Division. Retrieved on 22/04/13 from
http://comtrade.un.org/db/ce/ceSnapshot.aspx?px=BE&cc=12
United Nations. 2011. Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs
of the United Nations Secretariat, World Population Prospects: The 2010 Revision and
World Urbanization Prospects: The 2011 Revision. Retrieved from
http://esa.un.org/unup/unup/index_panel1.html on 22/04/13
Ventour, L. 2008. The food we waste. Food waste report v2, WRAP.
Wang, Y. S., Odle III, W. S., Eleazer, W. E., Bariaz, M. A., 1997. Methane Potential of Food
Waste and Anaerobic Toxicity of Leachate Produced During Food Waste Decomposition.
Waste Management and Research, 15:149-167
WRAP, 2010. A review of waste arising in the supply of food and drink to UK households.
Banbury, UK.
Appendix 1
Recommendations to REAP
Several people answered that they share excess food with family and friends (see fig 3.4).
This could be built upon where by members of REAP freely exchange food they feel would
go to waste otherwise. A facility for this could be built into the website or it could be
encouraged to occur without structure.
Education is the most effective way to get people to lower their food wastage. Some people
do not even acknowledge it as a problem as they don’t know it exists. Education could be
provided by REAP in the form of pamphlets of workshops run by other members. These
could educate people on the following:
17
Meal planning - allows people to know exactly what they do and don’t need. Shopping trips
can then be built into the daily routine so there will be smaller quantities of food in the
house at any one time meaning it is more likely to be in its sell by date.
Composting – though composting already occurs at a large scale in the community, there is
a wrong way of doing it which can lead to large amounts of greenhouse gasses to be
released.
Also – things like sell by dates and use by dates are used as the final word when really they
are more of a guide, people could be taught to use their senses to avoid throwing away food
that is not spoiled.
When conducting the questionnaire face to face, several people expressed a wish to be able
to compost but they can’t as they have no garden space to do it. REAP could provide the
facility for people who live in flats or other households without garden space to carry out
their own composting.
Though REAP may not be able to get large supermarkets to change their trading practices, it
may be able to persuade smaller companies to sell food so that less is wasted. For instance
packaged foods are often family size, which is a problem for couples or people living on their
own. Also “buy one get one free” deals entice people to buy extra food they don’t need.
Instead half price offers would allow people the choice of how much food they buy instead
of being forced to get two to participate in the offer.
Appendix 2
Questionnaire
1
Gender
2
First 3
characters
of your
postcode:
(e.g. )
3
How many
occupants
are there in
your
household?
(please
specify)
Male
Female
____________
____________
18
4
What
phrase
best
describes
your
household?
Single occupancy
Family, adults
only
Shared with non
relations
Family with
children
White British
6
White Irish
White other
Mixed-white & black Caribbean
Mixed-white & black African
Mixed- white & Asian
How would
you
describe
your
ethnicity?
Mixed- other
Asian / Asian British- Indian
Asian / Asian British- Pakistani
Asian / Asian British- Bangladeshi
Asian / Asian British- other
Black/Black British- Caribbean
Black/Black British- African
Black/Black British- other
Chinese
Other
5
7
8
What type
of
residence
do you live
in?
Which of
the
following
does the
household
have use of
or own?
How do
you mainly
Detached house/
bungalow
Semi- detached
house/
bungalow
Flat (if so, please write
floor number here
______
Other (please
specify)
__________
Car
Terraced
house/
bungalow
If yes, do you use it for food
shopping?
Microwave
Fridge
Cellar/larder/cupboard
Freezer
Other (please
19
store your
food?
9
10
specify)
___________
How many
food
shopping
trips for
the whole
house
occur in 2
weeks?
1
5
2
6
3
7
4
8
Which
shop or
service do
you use the
majority of
the time?
Aldi
Asda
Co-op
Londis
M&S
Morrisons
Nisa
Ocado
Local Market (please
specify) __________
Other (please
specify)
______________
11
Do you do
most of
your
shopping
online?
Yes
No
12
What
proportion
of food
that you
buy is
fresh?
0-20%
20-40%
60-80%
Over 80%
What
proportion
of food do
you buy is
processed/
ready
cooked?
0-20%
20-40%
40-60%
Are your
shopping
Yes
13
14
40-60%
Over 80%
60-80%
No
20
9
More than
10
Sainsbury's
Spar
Tesco
Waitrose
choices
influenced
so that
food waste
is
minimised?
15
If you see
an item is
part of a
deal e.g.
buy one
get one
free, are
you more
inclined to
buy it?
Yes
No
16
Do you feel
those kind
of deals
increase or
decrease
wastage?
Yes
No
17
Do you
attach
importance
to best
before and
use by
dates in
your
household?
Yes
No
18
Do you feel
best before
and use by
dates
increase
your
household
food
waste?
Yes
No
19
Of all the
food that is
bought,
how much
0%
10%
20%
30%
More than 60%
21
food would
you say
your
household
throws
away in
general?
40%
20
Are you
able to use
all the food
you buy?
Yes
No
21
If no, is the
food
usually
processed
or fresh?
Processed
Fresh
22
If there is
an surplus,
what
happens to
it?
23
24
If you are
disposing
of food, to
what
extend
does it
bother
you?
How much
effort do
you and
other
occupants
of your
house go
to to
minimise
50%
Composted
It is given away e.g to
a family friend
A great deal
Disposed of via
sink
Not very much
A fair amount
Not at all
A little
A great deal
Not very much
A fair amount
Not at all
A little
22
Disposed
of via
black bins
Other (please
specify)
______________
food
waste?
25
What is the
main
reason, if
at all, is
food
wasted in
your
household?
Food not
appetizing
Food is out of date
Too much food
is prepared or
cooked
Other (please
specify)
______________
Appendix 3
Qualitative Food Wastage Survey
This qualitative survey is being carried out on behalf of the Roundhay Environmental Action
Project (REAP) by University of Leeds student George Hallam. It aims to garner information
on practices, policies, ethics and opinions in regards to food wastage in businesses found in
the Roundhay area.
Questions
Does your operation ever find itself in a situation where food is in surplus and unlikely to
sell?
What are your operations arrangements when it comes to the disposal of food?
Do you have any policies or practices in place to minimise the wastage of food?
What proportion of the food that your operation buys is wasted?
Of the food that is disposed of, how much is fresh and how much is
cooked/prepared/processed?
How often is food that is disposed of in its “sell by” or “use by” dates?
Have you ever considered ways of improving the situation regarding
surplus food, or are you happy with your current set up?
23
Do feel constrained by company policy or rules and regulations that require you dispose of
food in a way you do not agree with?
24