LGA Environment Board vice chairman Councillor Clyde Loakes said: “The average family in England spent £520 last year on food and drink which wasn’t eaten. That is a heartbreaking figure in a world where hundreds of millions of people go hungry every day.

“While campaigns like Love Food, Hate Waste are encouraging people to make better use of the food they buy, the source of the problem is not being adequately addressed. With more than five million tonnes of edible food thrown out each year, way too much food is being brought into homes in the first place. Retailers need to take a large slice of responsibility for that.

“Buy-one- get-one free deals, which give consumers a few days to munch through 16 clementines, are not about providing value for money.

“They are about transferring waste out of retail operations and into the family home. Retailers should scrap multi-buy deals which encourage people to take more than they need and replace them with discounts on individual products which will help reduce excess consumption and increase customer choice.”

The LGA is also calling on retailers to set ambitious waste goals to “bring them into line with the big improvements in waste management being produced by local authorities and residents”.

It said the total amount of packaging waste being produced each year since 2005 had remained the same.

‘Simple solution’

Retailers have hit back at the LGA’s claims.

BRC head of environment Bob Gordon, said: “There’s a simple solution to the problem of food waste going to landfill – local councils need to collect it separately so it can be turned into compost or helped to biodegrade. The sound financial argument for such a move has been made by the LGA itself.

“Let’s give shoppers the credit they deserve. Customers are smart and they know how to make the most of the deals which work for them. There’s no evidence that the food ending up in landfill is a result of promotions.”

Packaging Federation chief executive Dick Searle added: “To suggest that consumers are so lacking in self-will that retailers are to blame for everything is clearly nonsense. These comments are not helpful.