LONDON, Shawwal 27, 1436, August 12, 2015, SPA -- The European Union wastes about 22 million tonnes of food a year and Britain wastes the most, according to a study by European Commission-backed researchers, according to Reuters. The study, published on Wednesday in the journal Environmental Research Letters, looked at data from six countries to analyse the water and nitrogen resources lost in the EU through consumer food waste. It found nearly 80 percent of all food waste is "avoidable" and Britain is the worst offender, wasting the equivalent of a tin of beans per person every day. Even Romania, where food waste was the lowest, wastes a lot of food - roughly equivalent to an apple a day. Averaged over all EU citizens, that amounts to 22 million tonnes of food each year, the study said. The researchers said educating people about how to shop more carefully and plan their consumption would help cut the amount they throw away, lowering food bills and limiting waste's impact on the environment. --SPA 03:36 LOCAL TIME 00:36 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/w