The Federation House Commitment (FHC) is a voluntary agreement which aims to help reduce overall water usage across the UK Food and Drink industry by 20% by 2020.
Commitment background
Since its launch in 2008, the FHC, managed by WRAP in partnership with the Food and Drink Federation (FDF), has been helping signatories across the food and drink manufacturing sector turn their commitments into real water savings. Under the FHC, signatories pledge to review their on-site water use and develop site-specific action plans within six months of signing up. Signatories then review and update their action plan based on actions implemented and commit to providing data on water savings made on site on an annual basis.
FHC technical advisors are available to assist signatories at each stage of the process. WRAP has appointed Hyder Consulting to administer the FHC and to work with FHC signatories to help them identify and deliver water reductions.
Read more about the FHC in the 2012 Progress Report
Key information
Between 2007 and 2011 signatories collectively made a 14.4% reduction in their water use (excluding that in product). This reduction is equivalent to 5.9 million m3 or around 2,400 Olympic-size swimming pools.
Signatories have also reduced their water use (excluding that in product) per tonne of product, by 22.7% compared to the 2007 baseline, a reduction of 0.58 m3/tonne of product. This is a significant achievement given that production for these sites increased by 10.7% over the same reporting period.
Between April 2011 and December 2011, 17 new companies signed up to the FHC. An additional company signed up in February 2012, bringing the total number of signatories to 70 across 278 active sites.
