Food waste and beyond how our industry is shaping the sustainability agenda

Nameeta Baichoo, sustainability programme manager at IGD

Since 2017, IGD has been working collaboratively across the food and consumer goods industry to help businesses reduce the food waste they create. Nameeta Baichoo, sustainability programme manager at IGD, outlines what’s happened so far and looks at other sustainability initiatives that are making a difference in our industry.

The food and drink we consume forms the single biggest part of our sustainability impact and our contribution to climate change; bigger than the emissions created from travel and from the energy we use at home. According to the Food & Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations, approximately one-third of all the food produced in the world is lost or wasted and if food waste was a country, it would be the third-largest contributor of carbon emissions after the US and China (FAO 2015). Therefore, reducing food waste is very important in efforts to address climate change.

September 2019 saw the first anniversary of IGD and WRAP’s ground-breaking Food Waste Reduction Roadmap, developed to help food and consumer goods companies adopt a consistent approach to Target, Measure and Act on food waste.

The Roadmap aims to help the UK achieve both the (UK) Courtauld Commitment 2025 targets, and the (international) United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12.3. The Roadmap is hugely ambitious, and the UK was the first country in the world to set a nationwide plan of this size, scale and ambition.

Where we are now

Currently, 156 UK food businesses have committed to target, measure and act on food waste, representing more than half of the UK food industry by turnover. Many are already providing evidence to WRAP of their work to reduce waste. In addition, more companies than ever are reporting their food waste data publicly.

The 121 businesses now reporting on their waste have a combined turnover of more than £220bn and generate over 1.1 million tonnes of food waste in their own operations. This shows what a difference can be made when industry works together, even in such a short timeframe.

Perhaps the most encouraging aspect of working on the roadmap has been its range and scope, across all areas of the food and grocery industry – retail, manufacturing, agriculture and primary production, hospitality and foodservice, and beyond. IGD and WRAP have also worked closely with supportive organisations such as trade bodies, which have been vital to access other companies that want to reduce their food waste.

Businesses taking the initiative

UK government, through the Resources and Waste strategy launched in 2018, said it would consult on introducing regulations to make reporting mandatory for businesses of an appropriate size. If mandatory reporting is introduced, those already committed to the Roadmap would have a huge advantage. In the meantime, both manufacturers and retailers are voluntarily taking huge strides to act on food waste reduction, including some companies that are publishing their food waste data publicly.

Other recent developments across the food industry include a notable increase in the charitable redistribution of surplus edible food through companies such as FareShare. Technology has also made a difference. Apps like Too Good To Go, offered by HEMA in the Netherlands and also available in the UK, have helped to match up food due to be discarded with consumers looking for a bargain. Meanwhile, Olio has been a major success in the UK, and Karma has made a big impact with restaurants in the past year.

We have also seen the introduction of ‘wonky vegetables’ as a way of selling produce previously deemed not suitable for sale. Some promotions pair these products with recipe ideas to show different ways of preparing and cooking a wide variety of food items.

Along the chain, manufacturers and suppliers have been making use of a process known as ‘waste valorisation’, which means the reprocessing of waste or discarded materials to create a new product with its own market value. This could be something simple such as recycling old newspapers into tissues, or it could mean turning used cooking oil into energy. Mexican company Biofase has even been making cutlery from avocado stones.

What next?

Our industry has made great strides on the important issue of food waste, but we are not complacent. Reducing food waste is a longterm journey and we recognise there is more we can, and will, be doing in the future.

Beyond food waste, if consumers continue to place an emphasis on sustainability and their environmental impact, then we believe the retail and FMCG industries will be in a strong position to roll out many more innovative products and processes to meet this demand. There are huge opportunities for our industry to continue shaping the sustainability agenda in the months and years ahead.