Courtauld 2025 update highlights food waste progress

By Gwen Ridler

- Last updated on GMT

Manufacturers have helped prevent 180k tonnes of food from being wasted in 2020
Manufacturers have helped prevent 180k tonnes of food from being wasted in 2020

Related tags coronavirus Waste

More than 180,000t of food –worth £300m – has been saved from becoming waste during the second year of the Waste and Resources Action Programme’s (WRAP’s) Food Waste Reduction Roadmap.

In the latest Courtauld Commitment 2025 annual report​, WRAP reported signatories’ progress towards reducing food waste in the UK in 2020.

As well as a 7% reduction in food waste (480,000) between 2015 and 2018, it highlighted some key additions to its suite of support for food redistribution. That included the Emergency COVID-19 surplus food redistribution resource hub.

This update to Courtauld’s Food Surplus Network has allowed members to make informed decisions about how to redistribute food against the backdrop of the pandemic.

Emergency funding

Work WRAP has done since March has led to £3.1m of emergency funding awarded to support redistribution organisations and new campaigns aimed at helping consumers reduce food waste while in lockdown.

WRAP chief executive Marcus Gover said: “The global pandemic has tested us like nothing we have faced before in our lifetimes. It has pushed supply chains and services to breaking point. But it has also unleashed innovative thinking and decisive action.”

“It has demonstrated what we can achieve when we work together. If ever we needed a compelling argument for why the Courtauld Commitment 2025 is needed, this year has been it. Courtauld 2025 signatories and supporters were among the leaders of the national collective response to the lockdown.”

WRAP has also launched consumer targeted campaigns to help reduce food waste at home – household food waste makes up 70% of all food waste post-farm gate at 6.6m tonnes, it claims.

Food waste and climate change

A new brand, Wasting Food: It’s Out of Date, was launched to help consumers identify the link between wasting food and climate change, while Love Food Hate Waste Scotland teamed up with retailer Lidl GB on the new Great Taste, No Waste ​campaign – a series of weekly shopping lists and meal plans that will feed a family of four.

Gover added: “Recognition for Love Food Hate Waste has never been higher, and we are pushing the envelope with ‘Wasting Food, It’s Out of Date’ to open citizens’ eyes to the impact of wasted food on climate change. We need more Courtauld 2025 signatories to help amplify our messages.

“Together, we can build back better, for the good of the economy, the environment, and the communities we live in. Through Courtauld 2025 we are not only responding to the present but shaping the future.”

Meanwhile, demand for quantity and quality has forced high-volume artisan producers and larger plant bakers to upgrade equipment, while driving up efficiency and cracking down on waste.

Related topics Supply Chain

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