One of the horrors of modern living is the amount of food wasted on a daily basis, even in a small home.

Grandparents of people my age will extol how a loaf of bread and an egg could feed a family of five for a week during the rationing of World War Two  (minor exaggeration but you get my point) and yet we throw away 10 times as much food a week in 2012 and don’t think anything of it.

UK Food Waste Statistics

Before we delve into the topic at hand, let me scare you with some statistics:

UK households waste 6.7 million tons of food a year

That’s shockingly horrific. That’s almost a third of the total 21.7 million tons of food purchased each year.  (Better than the US mind you, who waste half of what they buy). While some is recycled into compost or animal feed, the vast majority (~85%) is sent straight to landfill where it decomposes, contributing to greenhouse gases and possible climate change.

61% of that waste is avoidable (4.1 million tons)

There are obvious factors in the total wastage a year that is unavoidable – there are only so many alternative uses for meat carcases, vegetable scraps and so forth. But 4.1 million tons of the waste is actual food that could have been eaten if only its storage or purchase had been managed better.

8% of food waste is still in date when thrown away

Even if managed properly, and despite all other points, 8% of food waste is perfectly good, edible food that is still in date. People simply buy too much for a particular meal, or do not want to eat what they have bought so simply throw it away rather than make use of it.

£10.2 billion pounds a year wasted

That’s the total figure of the amount of food that the UK wastes every year. That’s £420 per household, per year. That could pay your car insurance, or a weekend break for 2, or even kick-start your main summer vacation holiday fund. The US wastes $43 billion a year, or $590 per household.

Could any of this be reduced if we taxed wasted food?

Korea thinks so …

Korea is launching a food waste tax this year. This will be relatively easy for Korea to implement because the population already sorts food waste from normal domestic rubbish. The receptacles are being updated to contain RFID scanners, and special bags will be distributed to households encoded with their details. The more food waste you throw, the more you get charged for doing so.

The Korean Government’s goal is to reduce food waste by 20% in 2013 which would:

• save $144 million in food waste processing costs;
• save consumers $4.4 billion of food costs that wouldn’t be purchased and wasted; and
• reduce greenhouse gas emissions the equivalent of removing over 243,000 cars from use each year.

Semantics is Taxing

I dislike the idea of taxing something to reduce consumption of whatever it is being taxed. In this case, it’s still a consumption but the consumption of landfill and local authority collection services to collect the wasted food. It suggests that if you have the money to pay the tax, then you should flaunt it.

A Tax

If you throw away 20kg of food a year and are charged £5 per kilo disposed of, that’s £100 a year additional taxes the government takes from your home. Multiply that across the country, and that’s a lot of additional taxes for sure. But it sells the premise wrong. It won’t compel to reduce waste; it will merely make the population feel taxed even more. It doesn’t adjust the mindset positively. As another negative connotation – taxes are unavoidable.

The other half of why I dislike calling it a tax so much is I already pay for refuse collection as part of my council tax. I should not be double-taxed for the same service.

Pay As You Throw

What if we call it “Pay As You Throw”, which is essentially what Korea are calling their system. It’s still a tax by another name, but it is starting to turn it around into something slightly more positive. It still doesn’t hit the nail on the head though in my mind; if you can afford to throw lots, then throw lots you shall. If you can’t afford to, then you won’t.

Fine Time

What if, we call it a Food Waste Fine. Taxes are unavoidable, but fines? Fines are what you get when you do something bad. If you don’t do something bad, you don’t get fined. This puts the control in the hands of the disposer.

You are right if you think all that is just semantics, because it is. The bottom line is you still pay to throw away food. But sometimes it isn’t so much the idea that matters, but how you sell it.

Bring it on

I’d welcome a food waste fine, because I already know I waste too much food. Besides the hole in my pocket when I buy the food unnecessarily however, it doesn’t directly affect me. I know it causes greenhouse gases when it decomposes (and when it gets made and transported because of me, too). I know I probably throw away enough each year to feed a starving family somewhere for 6 months. I know all this, but I still do it.

If I knew it was going to directly cost me twice though? I think that’d change my behaviour. Share your thoughts in the comments!

We all know that most of us need to reduce our personal debt, not just for our own pockets but for the sake of the economy. Although it’s a depressing figure, by the end of January 2012 the total UK personal debt stood at £1,456 trillion.

However, it need not all be doom and gloom; there are still opportunities to treat ourselves without being totally out of pocket. Getting out of debt can mean not overindulging but there are also ways to do have memorable experiences without having to sacrifice everything you enjoy. Here are 5 tips to help you enjoy the finer points in life whilst still clearing debt…

1.      Ask for a payrise

Have you asked before? Even if you have, we all know, if we don’t ask, then we don’t get… Why not take a chance and see if you can get paid more for what you currently do. Then you can use the salary increase to help pay off debt, whilst maintaining your current lifestyle.

2.      Get a 2^nd job

If you’re not successful when asking for a payrise, why not get a second job to supplement your income. It doesn’t need to be a huge commitment. Perhaps you could be a home tutor a couple of nights a week. Or even try some freelance writing. Whatever your skill, with enough Googling, you are bound to find something to suit your skills set.

3.      Find cheaper ways of pampering yourself

You still need to look good right? Even if you’re asking for a payrise or interviewing for a second job, you want to know that you look your best when you are doing this. These days, there are so many websites offering beauty vouchers, so why not take a look on a site such as Groupon or other daily-offer sites and see what you can get.

4.      Cut corners with your shopping

Whether it’s your weekly food shop, DIY purchase for home improvements or a dress for a wedding, again, there are countless shopping vouchers to be found online. You need to pay attention to dates though, as these deals do not stay around for long but new ones are constantly appearing, so it’s nearly always a safe bet.

5.      Consolidate your debts

Paying several different loans and credit cards can get very confusing. Why not consolidate all of your debts in to one payment on the same day each month? Being organised this way will give you peace of mind and let you concentrate on the things you really care about. Ensure you find a reputable lender when doing this, however, and check APRs and fees. You need to ensure you won’t end up paying back more than you already owe!

I bet the blog post title got your attention. The image is also the complete antithesis to my general outlook on life. It is precisely how this situation has made me though, and no doubt to some degree you will end up sharing it with me!

I don’t mean benefit fraud is acceptable to me, of course. I mean it appears to be acceptable to the Department for Work and Pensions and Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. Now before the lawsuits start arriving, I suspect I should begin to justify those opinions.

Moving House

Back in October 2011 I moved in to my current residence. It’s a beautiful ground floor apartment in a sparkling Marina, with fresh sea air, sunshine all day and free allocated parking despite effectively being in a huge metropolitan area of England (albeit at a slightly lower elevation). As always when moving in to a new property, in the beginning – and still now, occasionally – I have fun with bailiffs and debt collectors looking for the previous residents. To this day I continue opening their mail to contact those sending it to advise “not known at this address” as the majority of them have no return address to be sent back to. A little naughty perhaps, but if it stops bailiffs breaking into my house over parking fines, council tax and so on, then I’m sorry but my need to protect my family and property overrides mail transmission law, in my view.

Occasionally, bank statements come through. I bank with the same bank as the previous residents (it turns out), and my partner does not. When I see their envelopes in the mail pile I’ve been conditioned over the years just to open them. There seems little point in glancing at the addressee – it’s going to be me! But occasionally it is not. I’ve contacted my bank and told them they don’t live here any longer on two occasions now, but still they keep coming.

Noticing and Reporting A Fraud

The previous residents of my flat moved back to an Eastern European country early October, 2011. They have not been back to the UK since, and have no intention of doing so. They have a small child, for which they were claiming Child Tax Credit and Child Benefit. I have no issue there. This country is a member of the EU, and as far as I am aware both parents worked.

My problem began when I accidentally opened their first bank statement in December 2011, and noticed the payments were still going in from both agencies. Being a somewhat irate tax-payer, I contacted both the DWP and HMRC on their respective fraud lines. I’d like to give a small “well done” to DWP for having an 0800 number to report these matters on (0800 854 440) and say “shame on you” to HMRC for enforcing the use of an 0845 and costing me money to report someone stealing my money.

I gave both agencies full names, address, bank account details, National Insurance numbers, inside leg measurements and a rough idea where they had gone back to (from the place names on the bank transactions). I was thanked for my assistance and left it at that, safe in the knowledge that I had gone some way of my own volition to reducing our national debt.

Reporting it: Round One

A month later at the beginning of January 2012, more bank statements fell through my door, intermingled with my own bank and credit card statements. I tore open the lot again not paying the slightest attention to the addressee (maybe this is wrong of me? But it fell through my door). Again midway through thinking “I don’t recognise any of these transactions”, I realised it wasn’t mine again. The last transaction dated 6 days prior, was yet more Child Tax Credit and Child Benefit being paid in. Flicking through the pages, it had never stopped.

Again I rang the agencies concerned. “Well done” to the DWP for having the 0800, and for answering instantly. “Shame on you” to HMRC for still having an 0845 number, and not answering it for 20 minutes.

I gave the same information all over again. This time just in case they don’t take anonymous reports all that seriously, I gave my name, address, telephone number, email address, employment details (I like to think I have a trustworthy, upstanding job within the community), and offered to send copies of the documents as evidence. This was declined.

Round Two

Towards the end of January (you’ll notice a theme developing here) another tree fell through my door courtesy of Royal Mail. Half asleep I tore open the lot and repeated my 20 seconds of “has someone cloned by debit card?” line of thinking before realising it wasn’t my bank statement. Incensed at catching ‘CHB’ in one of the comments I scanned the rest of the statement. They were still in Eastern Europe, and still claiming both benefits.

Apparently, zero action had been taken on my reports despite having every piece of information asked for (twice!), and 3 months to act on it.

Round Three

I was so incensed I wrote to my MP. I asked some probing questions, and gave all case details to him to date. I asked why nothing was being done. I asked just what it takes to get an action on fraud reports, and if he’d be so kind as to tell me so I could do it. He wrote back by email the next day stating he’d written to Lord Freud, the Minister fo Welfare Reform (nominally attached to the DWP it appears, from his letterhead) and he would forward any response received.

On the 1st Febuary 2012 I received a posted letter from my MP enclosing the response from Lord Freud. He wrote:

“I am replying as the Minister responsible for this area of the Department’s work.

The information that is given to us by members of the public is key to many of our benefit fraud investigations. We therefore encourage any member of the public who might be aware of an individual committing benefit fraud to contact the confidential National Benefit Fraud Hotline on 0800 854 440. The line is available seven days a week between 7am and 11pm. Alternatively, suspicions can also be reported online at www.dwp.gov.uk/benefit-thieves

It is important to emphasise that, for reasons relating to data protection, we are unable to comment on any fraud investigation or enquiries that may be being made [my emphasis] by our investigators. This also means that we cannot provide members of the public with progress updates relating to the information they have provided. [I don't need an update from DWP - the statements I continue to receive say it all]. However, I can assure you that all allegations of benefit fraud are investigated and, where evidence is obtained to substantiate the information further, appropriate action is taken. Benefit fraud investigators are expected to progress cases without undue delay and investigations are brought to a conclusion as soon as enough evidence is gathered to prove or disprove the allegation made. The time taken to do this will depend on the nature of the allegation and the avenues of enquiry that will need to be pursued. 

While I should clarify that Child Tax Credit and Child Benefit are benefits administered by HM Revenue and Customs, both this Department and HM Revenue and Customs are absolutely committed to reducing the level of fraud and error in the benefit system and are working closely together to undertake a radical new zero tolerance approach. [Shouldn't benefit fraud always have been zero tolerance?] 

Finally, I am unaware of which 0845 your constituent has been contacting, however the advertised National Benefit Fraud Hotline is free to call from BT landlines. [Yes it is. But they will not take reports under any circumstances for Child Tax Credit. They will direct you to call 0845 300 3900].

Yours sincerely,

Lord Freud“

Check Mate

Today, March 23rd, 2012 I repeated the whole “tree through door” scenario. Today I again sleepily tore open my mail. Today I again opened a bank statement .Today I again see Child Tax Credit and Child Benefit still being paid in with no sign of stopping.

This case is probably repeated hundreds of thousands of times up and down the country (and in my case, across the world). Billions of pounds a year are being lost out of the benefit system due to fraud and error (DWP’s own statistics for 2011 put the value at £3,200,000,000 (3.2 billion pounds).

My job and livelihood, or at the very least my rate of pay is at risk because of government cuts, and yet just 0.15% of that headline figure would pay for what my employer is short by.

What else can I do?