Food waste in the United Kingdom Meanwhile, in the United States (where shortages were hardly comparable), legislators considered laws restricting the distribution of food in order to cut waste, breaches of which might be punishable by fines or imprisonment. During World War II, rationing was imposed almost immediately. Restrictions were immediately more stringent than in the Great War as with effect from 8 January 1940, ration books were issued and most foods were subject to ration. By August 1940, legislation was passed that made the wasting of food a prisonable offence. Posters encouraged kitchen waste to be used for feeding animals, primarily swine but also poultry.
Food waste in the United Kingdom Many of the methods suggested by current campaigns to prevent food waste have taken inspiration from those of World War II. Despite this, it remains debatable whether the waste campaigns and rationing, during and post-WWII, achieved any long-term change in people's attitudes towards waste; WRAP's report on domestic household waste found older people to waste as much avoidable waste as younger people. Further, as early as 1980, only twenty-five years after rationing was fully abolished, a journal article published that year found significant levels of waste at home, in restaurants and in sectors of the food industry. However, the rising