IRISH families are throwing out up to 400kg of food per year, even though at least a quarter of it could be used, a new survey has found.

Food is now the biggest single waste commodity generated by Irish households, accounting for 23%, or more than a fifth, of all rubbish, according to the preliminary results of a study by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The figures suggest Irish families create 36,000 tons of food waste a year with each person throwing out an average of 91kg a week.

Waste experts say Irish people need to reduce the amount of food being wasted, and must start recycling the rest. It is estimated that at least 25% of wasted food is caused by households cooking more than they can eat, or by buying too much in the first place. Sustainability campaigners say consumers must learn to buy only what they need and to plan meals more carefully.

Craig Benton of Celtic Composting Systems, which supplies councils with equipment for recycling food waste, said: “I would estimate that about a quarter of the household waste our system deals with is uneaten food, while the remainder is scraps. Supermarkets and other businesses, such as restaurants and hotels, are the biggest culprits when it comes to throwing out food, but households are also guilty. People are wealthier now than they used to be and less likely to use things up. They are less conscious of not wasting food.”

According to 2003 figures from the National Waste Database each Irish person creates 398kg of rubbish a year. The new EPA survey now shows that 23% of this is food.

Emma Hockridge of Sustain, a British group promoting better food and farming, said growing food waste is becoming a problem in many western countries. “Food is relatively cheap for lots of people now and they don’t worry about not using everything they buy,” she said. “If they purchase too much or cook too much they simply throw it out. Food is not seen as a luxury anymore and this is a problem. It should be, because it’s expensive and time-consuming to produce. It’s also damaging to the environment if it is not disposed of properly.

“We would advise people to buy more carefully, to freeze food that would otherwise be wasted, and to be conscious of use-by dates. Often people get confused between use-by and sell-by dates and end up throwing out something that they could actually still eat.”

According to the EPA, reducing food waste and recycling it is necessary as the material can be damaging to the environment when sent to landfill. Waste food can produce methane, a greenhouse gas that creates liquid pollution and causes odours.

A number of county and city councils now supply households with brown bins in which biodegradable material, including food and garden waste, can be disposed of. In Galway, a scheme converts organic waste from households to compost and it is then given out free to anybody who wants it.

Ella Ryan, an official in Galway council, said the system is working well and that the public is using the compost in gardens. The council now charges less to collect brown bins than it does grey ones, which are used for non-recyclable waste. The EPA is planning similar schemes around the country.

The Irish government is committed to a minimum reduction of 65% of biodegradable waste going to landfill by 2013. Surveys in 2003 showed that just 15% of all municipal or household waste was being diverted from landfill. Galway city council now diverts up to 47% of all household waste.

National surveys in 2003 showed that just 80,000 Irish homes had been supplied with composting bins and only one in 10 were composting waste.

The National Waste Database for 2003 found organic material accounted for 32.2% of all household rubbish.

This figure was not analysed to establish the amount of food waste and garden waste, but this will be included in the EPA’s new survey, to be published shortly.

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