Catering facilities at the houses of parliament discarded 268,740kg of food up to the beginning of December this year (Picture: Getty)
Parliament binned more than 250 tonnes of food this year with the figure revealed as its caterers serve up extravagant Christmas fare.
The amount of wastage is at the highest level since 2019 and comes amid the cost of living crisis and a project getting underway in London to redistribute surplus to hundreds of families in need.
Across the parliamentary estate 268,740kg of food — roughly equivalent to the weight of a Boeing Dreamliner — was thrown out up to December 7.
The amount rose from 148,230kg last year, according to a response from the House of Commons after a Freedom of Information Act request.
In 2019, the earliest date for which the Commons has previously provided figures under the Act, the total was 258,869kg.
None of the food discarded this year across the Commons and Lords catering services was donated or redistributed, according to the response.
The wastage can be revealed as parliament’s catering facilities run festive menus, which include roasts with all the trimmings.
In The Adjournment restaurant, the seasonal fare includes the guinea fowl, apricot and cranberry terrine with pickled red cabbage, clementine and sourdough. Dishes at the Members’ Dining Room include the potted duck leg, pancetta and cranberry with sage toasted sourdough, Shawsgate vineyard ‘Frampaign’ poached pear and piccalilli.
The UK parliament has recorded its highest level of food wastage since 2019 (Picture: NuwanProvider/Getty Images)
Food waste campaigner Tristram Stuart said: ‘Clearly, at a time of ecological crisis, as well as the cost of living crisis in which millions of British people are going without adequate meals, the persistence of wasting colossal amounts of edible, nutritious food by some of the most privileged members of society and most profitable corporations such as supermarkets indicates a need for these individuals and corporations to be held to account by the citizens of this country.
‘Parliament could begin by passing the kinds of robust anti-food waste legislation that I helped through the US parliamentary system.
‘One part of this was finalised this week and is on its way to president Biden’s office right now.’
Mark Hall, of Waste Management company BusinessWaste.co.uk, has previously been told by the Commons that it cannot provide details of individual waste streams.
He said: ‘Frankly it’s disgusting. There’s zero chance that volume of waste is from scraps. It’s over-catering and ordering too much subsidised fine dining canteen food. They should be opening the doors and letting anyone who needs a meal have one, but of course they won’t.’
A few miles from Westminster, food redistribution charity The Felix Project is aiming to save around 131,000kg of surplus food from landfill to feed hundreds of families in need.
A campaigner has said that parliament should pass laws tightening up on food waste (Picture: Kristian Buus/Getty)
The project is working with 90 community organisations to provide supplies to people from north London at a time of year when there is traditionally more excess but when outlets such as foodbanks and schools are closed for the holiday season.
The charity is delivering the food to community organisations, housing associations and schools between December 23 and January 1.
Each van delivery will be filled with almost a tonne of food and could feed up to 150 families.
The Members’ Dining Room in the House of Commons is among the catering facilities offering Christmas menus (Picture: Parliament)
The UK Parliament maintains that it has a number of measures in place to monitor and reduce the amount of waste from catering outlets.
These include rotating stock quickly and effectively, removing high-wastage items, checking venue orders for accuracy and making the majority of dishes in-house, which allows for improvisation in order to use up supplies.
Another key practice is transferring unwanted hot food immediately to where it can be used or blast chilled until the following day.
Caterers do not redistribute heated meals outside parliament because of the risk of deterioration and bacteria during storage.
A UK Parliament spokesperson said: ‘The House of Commons and House of Lords Catering Services take a number of measures to reduce the amount of food waste from our outlets and none of our waste goes to landfill.
‘We produce less food waste than the national average for the catering industry, and the Sustainable Restaurant Association has rated parliament’s Catering Services as good practice organisations – awarding three stars out of three as part of the Environmental section in their Food Made Good Scheme. We review and manage any potential out of date stock to reduce the need for redistribution, though we have relationships with organisations who can redistribute surplus food when needed.
‘In the period specified, all food fit for consumption was used appropriately across both Houses’ catering venues.’
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The amount of food waste at parliament is at the highest level for four years despite the intensifying cost of living crisis.
