WRAP Reports 13 Percent Drop In Food Waste

15 November 2011

Speaking at WRAP's annual conference, chief executive Dr Liz Goodwin published results of the organisation's work over the past three years revealing a drop in food waste

Goodwin revealed that WRAP has met all its published major targets, having helped keep 11m tonnes of waste out of landfill, avoid 5.5m tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions and generate £2bn of benefits to the UK economy, including £1.8bn of cost savings.

WRAP also published new research which showed a sharp fall in household food waste by 13 percent but showed we still throw away edible food worth £12bn a year.

Commenting on the food waste figures, Goodwin said that the fall in household food waste since 2006/07 from 8.3m tonnes to 7.2m tonnes per year was very welcome and probably due to a range of factors. However, there was a big job still to be done to given the food we waste in homes alone is worth £12bn a year, and food wasted throughout the supply chain was "significant" at a time when food security was a major global issue.

British Retail Consortium head of environment, Bob Gordon, said: "This reduction is all the more important because food waste has such a large environmental impact and costs people hard-earned money. The scale of the reduction shows retailers are right to support customers in tackling the biggest source of food waste - the home. Previous WRAP figures showed eight times more food waste coming from homes than from stores.

"Not all food waste is avoidable - bones and peelings for example - but the scale of the waste reduction achieved shows retailers successfully educating and encouraging customers to change the way they buy and manage food. It's also good to see local authorities taking more responsibility. Rising numbers of separate collections are making more households aware of their food waste and the need to tackle it.

"Retailers are working to take these gains further but also to make progress in areas such as the assessment and reduction of the whole-life environmental impact of products."

Goodwin said: "All the governments of the UK which fund our work have the goal of moving swiftly towards a zero waste society. Their priority is to find ways of tackling waste - including food waste - and keep scarce resources in use for as long as possible.

"This is where WRAP's work comes into play."

The report can be found here

Darrel Moore