Government call over food waste
Industry urged to sign up to ‘roadmap’
CONSUMER: Supermarket chains and food producers are being urged to sign up to an ambitious pledge to halve the amount of waste they produce by 2030.
The Government’s food surplus and waste champion, is spearheading the initiative that calls on firms to set ambitious food waste reduction targets.
SUPERMARKET CHAINS and food producers are being urged to sign up to an ambitious pledge to halve the amount of waste they produce by 2030.
Ben Elliot, the Government’s food surplus and waste champion, is spearheading the initiative that calls on companies to set ambitious food waste reduction targets and individuals to make more efficient shopping decisions.
The UK currently wastes 10.2m tonnes of food a year, with 1.8m coming from manufacturers, one million from the hospitality sector, 260,000 from retail and the rest from households.
Mr Elliot is asking almost 300 organisations and individuals due to attend a major gathering on food waste later this month to adopt a package of pledges.
Businesses are expected to set their own targets to help contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goal of halving per capita global food waste by 2030.
Mr Elliot said: “Wasting food is an environmental, moral and financial scandal.
“We intend for the symposium and pledge to spark action, not just conversation, and inspire us all to champion change.”
The Government also wants wider adoption of the Food Waste Reduction Roadmap to help companies measure and report on efforts to cut back waste.
The roadmap already boasts supermarket giants such as Tesco, Aldi, Lidl, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons among the signatories to its principles. But only 90 out of the 250 largest food businesses targeted have signed up.
In 2017, the retail and food manufacturing sectors wasted 205,000 tonnes of surplus food. Around 43,000 tonnes of surplus food is redistributed each year.
Reworking or repacking unused food, some of which may become inedible, comes with cost challenges for businesses.
But WRAP estimates that a further 100,000 tonnes, equal to 250 million meals a year, of accessible and edible food goes uneaten and is instead used for generating energy or animal feed.
Mr Elliot will host the Step up to the Plate symposium alongside Environment Secretary Michael Gove at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London on May 13.
A spokeswoman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) was unable to reveal who would be attending but said it ranged from large retailers to well-known individuals.
Mr Gove will join fellow Defra Minister Therese Coffey in being among the first to sign up to the new pledge. “The UK is showing real leadership in this area, but I urge businesses to join me in signing the pledge so we can bring about real change,” he said.
The Government has committed to investing £15m in tackling food waste and published a Resources and Waste Strategy in December.
It also plans to consult on mandatory annual reporting of food surplus and waste by food businesses and on establishing legal powers to introduce targets for waste prevention.
Wasting food is an environmental ,moral and financial scandal. Ben Elliot, the Government’s food surplus and waste champion.