Food waste campaigners have accused environment secretary Thérèse Coffey of a “scandalous” failure to implement plans for mandatory food waste reporting.
Almost eight years after former Defra boss Michael Gove first set out plans for a “world leading” system of reporting in the UK, ministers have failed to bring in a system. Only a tiny fraction of companies publicly report food waste figures.
This week, campaign group Feedback wrote to Coffey calling for urgent action to get the plans back on track, with a year having nearly elapsed since a consultation on the plans was launched by Defra.
Following talks with food companies, it set out proposals for reporting requirements to apply to those with an annual turnover over £36m.
But despite figures showing 3.3 million tonnes of food is going to waste before it leaves the farmgate in the UK, ministers have been accused of dragging their feet.
“We have over a decade’s evidence to show voluntary reporting doesn’t work: no reliable UK-wide data exists at all for on-farm food waste,” said Feedback senior policy and campaigns manager Martin Bowman.
“The government’s claims to be a global leader in food waste are absurd when we don’t even know how much food waste exists.
“Its shambolic handling of food waste is an absolute scandal – after delivering its consultation on mandatory food waste reporting a full three years late, nine months have now passed since the consultation closed with no timeline for a response in sight.”
Feedback is calling for mandatory food waste reporting for all medium and large food businesses, including on farms.
It comes as Tesco this week confirmed it had redistributed 88% of surplus food in the last year, exceeding a target of 85% set in 2016.
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