It looks like a pile of new grocery items, but in fact, it is perfectly edible food straight out of household rubbish bins.

A recent study reveals that every year the average New Zealand household throws away more than $563 worth of edible food. This equates to $25million of edible food that is thrown away in Tauranga each year.

Some 40kgs of food was waste found in rubbish bins as part of the Love Food Hate Waste audit. Photo: Supplied.

Across the Bay of Plenty it adds up to $58m worth of food - part of the $872m national total of edible food that goes to landfill each year.

Tauranga City Council has been part of a nationwide project, surveying 1365 people and investigating 1402 rubbish bins to learn how much food is being wasted and what can be done about it.

Council's waste minimisation programme leader Rebecca Maiden says the audit reveals a staggering amount of edible food is thrown away every week.

'Sadly, it comes as no surprise,” says Rebecca. 'We have known for some time that over 30 per cent of the rubbish placed into kerbside collections is food waste.”

Rebecca admits what does come as a surprise is the amount of food being thrown away that is still edible.

'Whole loaves of bread, unopened yoghurts and uneaten apples are just some of the foods that have been found in audits across the country,” she adds.

The above photograph shows 40kgs of food waste found in rubbish bins as part of the Love Food Hate Waste audit - equivalent to six months' worth of food waste for the average New Zealand household.

The survey results found that 27 per cent of New Zealand households admit to throwing out more than $21 per week of edible food, while 38 per cent of households admit to wasting $8 per week of edible food. Only 10 per cent of households declared they waste nothing at all.

Among the top 10 edible food wasted in NZ are bread (10 per cent), potatoes (five per cent), bananas (three per cent) and oranges (two per cent).

Rebecca says while these amounts on their own might not seem significant, it all adds up.

There are some quick and easy things that can be done to reduce food waste, including storing bread in the freezer instead of on the counter to stop it going mouldy or drying out and stewing any excess fruit that might be going soft or blend it into a smoothie.

For more information on how to reduce your food waste, click here. For more information on the Love Food Hate Waste Campaign, please contact: info@lovefoodhatewaste.co.nz