The food and drink industry has slashed food waste by £100m since the start of the Courtauld Commitment but has been warned urgent action is needed to help cut household waste, where efforts have “stalled”.
The findings of the Courtauld Commitment 3 were released today by Wrap, showing the industry had hit its target of reducing food and packaging waste by 3% between 2012 and 2015.
But far from hitting its targets of reducing household food waste by 5% over the period, this had grown by 300,000 tonnes by 2015, the figures show.
Courtauld Commitment 3 figures show 219,000 tonnes of food and packaging waste have been prevented in the period by industry, representing a saving of 555,000 tonnes of CO2 over the lifetime of the commitment, which began in 2005.
Wrap said signatories had also increased the amount of surplus food and drink redistributed for human consumption in 2015 alone by 18,000 tonnes.
However, it painted a much more serious picture for the state of household waste, where falling food prices and increased personal earnings were among factors that saw £13bn of edible food needlessly thrown away from homes in 2015.
Wrap said that if the 7.3 million tonnes of food waste could have been prevented, it would have the environmental benefit of taking one in four cars off the road.
It called on business and NGOS to unite to tackle the problem.
“Citizens are wasting one million tonnes less food per year, which means over eight million tonnes less food waste than when we started tackling this issue in 2007,” said Wrap CEO Marcus Gover
“But it is incredibly challenging to reduce food waste, and the stalling of progress shows just how difficult it is. That’s why I’m calling on all businesses, organisations, campaigners and NGOs who work in this area to unite together in the fight against food waste. By working together, we can win this battle.”
Wrap will now undertake a major piece of consumer research to investigate what can motivate people to act differently, what constraints they are under, and what messages and interventions will be most effective.
It said it would also look to learn lessons for its work in Wales, which has seen a reduction in household food waste of 12% per person since 2009.
Citizens are wasting one million tonnes less food per year, which means over eight million tonnes less food waste than when we started tackling this issue in 2007
As one of the key next stages in the battle, businesses have signed up to Courtauld 2025, which will include a new targeted approach to reducing household food waste.
Wrap said it would investigate potential high-impact ways of helping consumers make best use of the food they buy, including tips on packs and on-shelf displays for the most commonly wasted food items; personalised messaging to help individuals identify beneficial changes in their food habits; as well as consistent application of best practice in date labelling and storage and portion advice.
There was better news on packaging, with the results showing a reduction during the period of 7%, significantly better than the target outcome of improved packaging design and recyclability in the grocery supply chain without increasing the carbon impact. Wrap said while the amount of packaging material placed on the market increased by 1% over the same period, to just under three million tonnes, increased recycling rates for different packaging materials and changes in materials composition had all boosted the figures, with wood, polymer, aluminium and steel packaging all seeing reductions both in total weight placed on the market and CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent) impact.
“The three phases of Courtauld have been a game-changer in bringing businesses together to work on issues of resource efficiency and drive change within their own operations. Today’s results show the industry’s commitment to reducing their environmental impacts and the huge benefit of collaborative action, particularly in the supply chain,” said Wrap director of business programmes Steve Creed.
“Reducing food waste in the home is incredibly challenging, given the complex reasons for it, the scale of food waste in the home and the lack of awareness, but it’s clear we all need to do more. Wrap has a plan to work with governments, signatories and consumers for greater public engagement through Love Food Hate Waste and interventions by signatories to Courtauld 2025.”
Environment minister Thérèse Coffey added: “Good progress has been made by industry to tackle food and packaging waste in the supply chain and it goes to show the achievements that can be made through working together with partners across the UK. But we all have a role to play and despite a million-tonne fall in domestic food waste since 2007, there is clearly more we need to do. That is why we will continue to work with Wrap to support their new strategy to raise awareness, increase education and change people’s perceptions of food waste.”
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