Never before has the UK seen such food poverty, yet it is estimated businesses waste over 3,500,000 tonnes of food a year; two million of which is still edible! Multiply that number by 2.5kg for the amount CO2 levels and you'll see the massive impact it also has on our environment. Just think of the labour, CO2 emissions of the tractor/transportation and the costs involved of a single bag of carrots, only to be wasted, that could have been eaten if managed with a bit of thought. 

There is one clear issue: It is too cheap to waste good food! On a large scale, it can be as cheap as £20 a tonne. 

This petition is asking the Government to put a large tax on food waste from businesses. Making it beneficial for them to utilise or donate their surplus food rather than the cheaper alternative of landfill or incineration. The raised funds from the added food waste tax could then be sent back to food banks which in turn will help those businesses use their surplus food.

With an estimated 8.4 million people experiencing food poverty. 4.7 million of these people live in severely food insecure homes. Meaning that their food intake is greatly reduced and children regularly experience physical sensations of hunger. 

The Trussell Trust is one of many food causes and they alone handed out over 2.5 million EMERGENCY food parcels in the past year. Up 33% from the year before.

This should never happen when you see the number of tonnes of edible food that is wasted. The stats below from 2019 show the amount of surplus food that could have been shared, yet ended up as waste: 

• Farms: 2,000,000 tonnes of edible food, wasted.
• Processing and manufacturing: 52,000-160,000 tonnes of edible food, wasted.
• Wholesale and distribution: 80,000-120,000 tonnes of edible food, wasted.
• Retail: 47,000-110,000 tonnes of edible food, wasted.

Help us to provide a fairer world by signing this petition.