Food manufacturers and retailers commit to reducing food waste

In a bid to adhere to the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal to halve global food waste by 2030, the Consumer Goods Council of South Africa (CGCSA) has launched the South African food loss and waste voluntary agreement, committing food manufacturers and retailers to waste reduction efforts.

Current estimates show that about 10 million tonnes of local agricultural production in South Africa is wasted each year. This is equivalent to an estimated R60 billion a year, or about 2% of GDP.

In a country where an estimated 14 million people go to bed hungry every night, this is a “monumental unnecessary waste, which cannot be allowed to continue,” says Matlou Setati, executive, CGCSA Food Safety Initiative (FSI). The food loss and waste agreement brings together CGCSA; the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition; and the Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries.

It will provide opportunities for public awareness campaigns to highlight the state of food waste and its impacts on the environment and human health.

It commits CGCSA food manufacturing and retail members to:

• reducing food loss and waste in South Africa by 50% by 2030

• adopting the food utilisation hierarchy, which, first, prioritises improved food utilisation and food loss and waste reduction and, second, the redistribution of edible, nutritious surplus food for human consumption, and to enable secondary markets for surplus food

• identifying food surplus and waste management solutions that respond to a circular economy and sustainable food systems agenda.

Setati says they have also put in place shorter-term goals, which they want to achieve within the next 10 years. This includes establishing a baseline for a more target-based measurable approach by 2022 and a 28% reduction of food waste by 2026.

Where it all started

The DTIC started conceptualising the establishment of a voluntary agreement to prevent food wastage by both manufacturers and retailers in South Africa back in 2012. The initiative is thus the culmination of efforts made since then. In 2015, the DTIC approached CGCSA to lobby its members to sign a voluntary agreement on food waste in line with both the UN goal to halve global good waste by 2030 and another commitment by the Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) to reduce global food waste by half by 2025.

CGCSA-FSI, together with the DTIC, subsequently submitted a proposal for funding from the EU through the SA-EU Dialogue Facility for a study tour in Europe to engage with other organisations that have implemented similar programmes to reduce food waste and share best practices for implementation and trial in South Africa.

The funding had a research component to evaluate the current status of food waste in South Africa and come up with levels of food currently wasted, in order to enable the industry and government to set informed reduction goals.

A moral obligation

Gareth Ackerman, co-chair of CGCSA, says given that South Africa’s retailers sell approximately 80% of the food consumed in the country, they sit at a critical point in the value chain to influence changes to reduce some of the food waste South Africa generates each year.

“By developing the voluntary food loss and waste agreement, CGCSA is making a bold call to South African food manufacturers, distributors and retailers to commit themselves to prevent and reduce food waste.”

Setati asserts that making this a ‘voluntary’ agreement will insure better and faster adoption.

“CGCSA prefers its members to voluntarily agree to commit to reduce and eventually eliminate food waste. They acknowledge that they have a role to play in reducing food waste in a country where over 14 million people go to bed hungry every night; it is morally wrong and untenable, given the food insecurity in South Africa.

“We believe that through a voluntary approach, change can be faster and more flexible to implement compared with ‘command and control’ interventions. In any event, the drafting of specific regulations – which CGCSA is advocating for to control food waste and enhance surplus food redistribution – can take years and, once implemented, may not reflect changed circumstances nor produce the intended outcomes.”

Setati further says that its collaborative nature will also enable companies to take full responsibility for their actions and implemented activities, considering changes in the systems are not cheap.

“It has a holistic approach, outlining the different roles that sectors need to play in the food system and how activities can be streamlined to prevent and reduce food loss and waste and enhance sustainable food production and consumption.”

Committing to change

Some of the South Africa’s largest retailers and food manufacturers who have taken the pledge include Massmart, Danone, Tiger Brands, Pick n Pay, Woolworths, Spar, Distell, Premier Foods and Shoprite.

They are committing to:

• the prevention of food loss and waste in their establishments

• the reuse of food/surplus food redistribution

• recycling

• reporting on the progress they are making in the prevention and reduction of food loss

• ensuring that no food is sent to landfill. possible for surplus food, which is still safe for human consumption, to be donated to the needy as part of national goals to avert food insecurity in South Africa.

In addition, they are also looking at establishing a local definition of food loss, food waste and surplus food, to enhance the recording and reporting of data in the South African context, while still being aligned with FAO definitions.

Minister of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries Barbara Creecy has welcomed the initiative and its potential to foster sustainable patterns in the country. Creecy notes that water scarcity, land degradation and burgeoning food and packaging waste are some of the major environmental problems of our time.

She says that the more responsible consumption of agricultural produce will assist to promote both food security and more sustainable agricultural practice.

“In the modern world, we now all understand that natural resources are not infinite, and it only makes sense that food waste be curbed. Organic waste is a major component in any landfill and all efforts to divert this waste through ensuring better use of food products is a significant contribution to our joint efforts to promote resource efficiency,” Creecy concludes.