UK to reduce household food waste

To be delivered under Wrap’s (Waste & Resources Action Programme) ‘Love Food, Hate Waste’ campaign, the initiative is likely to result in savings of more than £370m. This equates to a saving of almost 700,000 tonnes of CO2 – the same as taking 220,000 cars off the road for a year, according to Wrap.

Signatories of the Courtauld Commitment – a voluntary agreement led by Wrap – have agreed to work together to help reduce the amount of food the nation’s householders throw away by 155,000 tonnes by 2010, against a 2008 baseline.

Wrap has identified fresh fruit and vegetables, bakery products, dairy, meat and fish products as the highest source of household food waste. Action will be focused on identifying solutions and will examine how areas such as labelling, pack size range, storage advice and packaging designed to keep the food fresher for longer can all help to prevent household food waste.

To date, a number of retailers have implemented initiatives on food waste reduction through their involvement in the Courtauld Commitment.

As part of its wider food waste strategy, Wrap is now working with the Courtauld signatories, UK government and industry partners to develop and implement category specific action plans.

“This pledge signals a concerted and consistent approach by the grocery industry to reduce household food waste,” said Wrap CEO, Liz Goodwin. “Taking action under the Courtauld Commitment will help the grocery sector reduce the carbon impact of food waste while delivering significant cost savings straight to the consumer’s pocket. We want to see packaging innovation and advice to help shoppers make positive product choices and make the best use of the food they buy, therefore reducing the amount of waste.”

The British government’s Defra environment minister, Jane Kennedy, said: “I warmly welcome this commitment, which will ensure that not only are supermarkets, brand leaders and food processors now working to reduce food waste, it will also help their customers buy wisely and thus reduce the cost to them.”