Food waste costs £17bn a year from farm to fork. This must change - it’s not sustainable. That message rings loud and clear from the latest Courtauld Commitment from Wrap, which recently announced fresh waste-cutting targets for signatories. To date, Courtauld has helped prevent 2.3 million tonnes of waste, saving £3.5bn and helping us move towards a zero-waste economy.

The new targets focus heavily on food waste, presenting retailers with the stiff challenge of meeting a 3% manufacturing and retail decrease plus a 5% household waste reduction. But these targets are not purely a balance-sheet chore. Signatories also have an opportunity to evaluate the potential business benefits of reducing waste.

Fresh produce is a crucial area for waste reduction: consumers throw away 26% of what they buy. The key challenge is premature ripening and decay during shipment due to ethylene, which is emitted by ripening fruit and promotes the same process in nearby fruit.

Controlling supply chain ethylene levels was once thought impossible, but suppose it could now be controlled in-store and in the home? It would reduce waste and could also transform consumers’ perception of fruit.

In January, Kantar Worldpanel revealed that since 2008, 1.1 million fewer people were eating their ‘five-a-day’. One reason could well be greater caution in buying perishables. But developments in materials technology (such as It’sFresh!) can extend shelf life by two days or more. That’s not only a waste reduction solution but also a positive sales growth strategy.

Why? Because better control of ethylene emissions mean more fruit is available to sell and less will be wasted along the supply chain. This produce will also be fresher and of better quality. Consumers will buy more fruit, confident it won’t ‘go off’.

This way, reducing waste not only ticks ‘good corporate citizenship’ boxes, but also boosts balance sheets and benefits the whole supply chain. Consumers will gravitate towards retailers who use new technology to deliver unparalleled freshness. Wouldn’t it be nice for us all to eat our five-a-day, not just buy it!

Simon Lee is director of It’sFresh!

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