Food

Mr. Peter Ainsworth
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much food waste his Department generated in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Angela Eagle
Statistics on food waste generated by the Department are only available for the past three years. The figures are:

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|January to December each year|Kilograms|
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|2005                         |8,785    |
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|2006                         |5,125    |
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|2007                         |5,375    |
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A food waste recycling programme was introduced in March 2008. Through this, food waste is removed from the building and transported to a biogas plant where it is subjected to an anaerobic digestion process. In addition, the process produces fertilizer and electricity as by-products.