UK Food Companies, Grocers Beat Waste Reduction Goal

The UK food and grocery sector has beat its waste reduction goal, according to the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP).

WRAP today published the second interim report of Courtauld Commitment 3, which shows that its signatories — more than 50 UK retailers, brands and manufacturers including Coca-Cola Enterprises, Unilever, AB InBev and Nestlé — have cut grocery ingredient, product and packaging waste in manufacturing and retail operations 80,000 metric tons since 2012. In 2013, as part of the third phase of the Courtauld Commitment, the signatories committed to reducing food and drink waste by 3 percent, against a 2012 baseline. The report shows a 3.2 percent reduction.

The latest figures also show that efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions associated with packaging continue to exceed the target of maintaining a zero-increase level of CO2 emissions. The latest figures show a sustained positive reduction in carbon dioxide emissions of 3.9 percent.

Progress remains well ahead of the packaging target, despite a backdrop of growing sales (up by more than 5 percent for signatories who reported sales data). Changes in the mix of packaging materials and increases in recycling rates resulted in the overall reduction in carbon dioxide emissions, despite packaging weight increasing by 0.7 percent over this same period. The increase in packaging weight itself was for single use transit packaging, rather than household (primary) packaging which continues to decrease by weight.

Progress against the household food waste target is not collected annually, and 2015 data will be available for final year reporting in 2016.