WRAP calls for further food industry partnerships to reduce food waste
As part of its strategy to reduce food waste, WRAP is calling for proposals from food industry partnerships to develop innovative solutions to food waste throughout the retail supply chain and in the home.
With food production and consumption accounting for 18% of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions, and overall food waste thought to be around 18 – 20 million tonnes, WRAP is building on its existing drive to reduce household food waste by extending the scope of its work to make better use of resources all the way through the supply chain, from manufacture, distribution and back of store.
As part of WRAP’s work, industry workshops were held in London and Leeds this September to discuss new insights from its pioneering research report, “The Food We Waste”. A number of potential solutions to reduce food waste were identified, from improved storage guidance for consumers, more consistent date labelling and a greater range of pack sizes through to packaging changes aimed at increasing shelf life.
WRAP is now inviting proposals for projects to develop and trial innovative approaches and solutions to reduce supply chain and/or household food waste. Collaborative partnerships between retailers, brands, designers, suppliers and others will be particularly encouraged. These should have the potential to deliver significant reductions with rapid implementation of solutions.
The food categories making the most significant contribution to food waste are fresh fruit and vegetables; bakery products; fresh meats and fish, pre-prepared chilled meat and fish products; ready meals (including pizzas); dairy products (including milk); dried foods (including rice, pasta and cereals); and homemade meals. WRAP is therefore looking to prioritise activity in these areas.
Andrew Parry, Food Waste Minimisation Manager at WRAP, said: “There are real opportunities for retailers and food manufacturers to help reduce the amount of food which is thrown away in the UK. Not only would this have significant environmental benefits, it could also drive cost savings for the industry and customers - enhancing loyalty in difficult financial times.”
“The launch of this call for partnerships will now enable companies throughout the supply chain to work in partnership with WRAP to deliver real change.”
The closing date for the tender is 20th November 2008. For more information and to download the tender document visit www.wrap.org.uk/wrap_corporate/tenders or contact Josephine Millar on 01295 819916 or Josephine.Millar@wrap.org.uk.
Research reports to support proposals are available at www.wrap.org.uk/retail/food_waste/.
Editor's notes:
The tender complements WRAP’s consumer-facing campaign, “Love Food Hate Waste”, which aims to help UK households reduce the amount of food they waste through practical advice and recipe ideas. Launched in November 2007, the campaign has already exceeded its initial target of cutting food waste by 100,000 tonnes by March 2008, saving almost 500,000 tonnes of CO2 and a quarter of a billion pounds in costs to consumers and Local Authorities.
Further industry quotes:
Dick Searle, Chief Executive of The Packaging Federation welcomes the strategy, and said:
"Packaging plays a key role in product protection and the packaging industry has been incredibly innovative over many years. This is a call to action to continue to build upon those innovations and to push the boundaries further to reduce food waste.”
Alison Austin, Environmental Affairs Manager from Sainsbury’s said:
“Sainsbury’s is proud to support this initiative and through our work with WRAP have already developed storage guidance for our customers for fresh fruit and vegetables. There are lots more opportunities to reduce food waste and look forward to ideas becoming a reality.”
Callton Young, Director of Sustainability and Competitiveness, said:
"'We welcome this initiative and the opportunity it presents for joint working to reduce waste in the food chain because it complements FDF's Five-fold Environmental Ambition. Under this FDF is encouraging members to work with WRAP as part of the Courtauld Commitment to reduce the amount of packaging reaching consumers. We are also aspiring to send zero food and packaging waste from member sites to landfill by 2015.”
- WRAP works in partnership to encourage and enable businesses and consumers to be more efficient in their use of materials and recycle more things more often. This helps to minimise landfill, reduce carbon emissions and improve our environment.
- Established as a not-for-profit company in 2000, WRAP is backed by government funding from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
- Working in seven key areas (Construction, Retail, Manufacturing, Organics, Business Growth, Behavioural Change, and Local Authority Support), WRAP’s work focuses on market development and support to drive forward recycling and materials resource efficiency within these sectors, as well as wider communications and awareness activities including the multi-media national Recycle Now campaign for England.
- More information on all of WRAP's programmes can be found on www.wrap.org.uk
Abi Dare or Kate Sturley, Trimedia
abi.dare@trimediauk.com or kate.sturley@trimediauk.com
Tel: 0117 929 2311
Susan Nisbet
PR Manager, WRAP
Tel: 01295 819 928
susan.nisbet@wrap.org.uk
Viki Coppin
PR Officer, WRAP
Tel: 01295 819 695
viki.coppin@wrap.org.uk
