Encouragingly, there was also a decrease in mixed waste as a proportion of total waste, suggesting that more segregation is occurring in the supply chain, although there was still a lot of room for improvement, said the FDF.

The survey – published by the FDF and DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) - revealed that 90% of food and packaging waste generated at 149 factories operated by FDF members is now recycled or recovered, with just 9% (43,000t) sent to landfill in 2009 compared with 12.5% in 2008.

Regional variations

However, there was a wide variation in approaches to recovery/disposal across the country with land-spreading the main option in England, Scottish sites doing more recycling and Northern Ireland typically sending waste to landfill. No single recovery/disposal route dominated in Wales.

The quantity of waste destined for composting almost doubled between 2008 and 2009, from 12,924t to 21,699t, while anaerobic digestion was growing fast, but remained very niche, added the FDF.

“The survey data suggests the use of composting is growing, though uptake still remains fairly uneven across the UK.

“The [overall] results suggest FDF members are on course to achieve their aim of sending no food or packaging waste to landfill by 2015 – one of the key commitments of FDF’s Five-fold Environmental Ambition."