Progress across businesses to meet the Food Waste Reduction Roadmap target of 2030 has been accelerated, in a bid to ensure this is fulfilled.
Climate action NGO, Wrap and consumer insights company, IGD are taking action to ensure both the Courtauld Commitment 2030, which looks to deliver farm-to-fork reductions in food waste, greenhouse gas emissions and water stress, and the Sustainable Development Goal 12.3, to halve food waste per capita by 2030, are met.
This comes as factors affecting the food supply chain such as the pandemic, Brexit, and the war in Ukraine have caused the Roadmap to need a refresh.
As a result, food businesses have been urged to implement ‘Targer, Measure, Act’ principles to cut food waste, with 351 UK organisations currently committed.
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Under the adjusted milestones, businesses will be required to measure and report to Wrap, as well as act by cutting operational food waste, acting collaboratively and focusing on citizen food waste, so that progress can be tracked and relevant action is taken to accelerate progress further if required.
“There has never been greater urgency for businesses to tackle the issue of wasted food for the benefit of people, planet and profit. Four years since the launch of the Food Waste Reduction Roadmap, it is helping more businesses than ever before,” Wrap head of business collaboration, Helen Bird said.
“Our latest data unsurprisingly highlights that the longer businesses are working towards the targets, measuring progress, and taking action, the greater the reductions in reported food waste.
“Signing up to the Roadmap and the Courtauld Commitment should be on the agenda for every food business CEO and finance director. It provides practical advice to save food waste while cutting costs and the associated GHG emissions across the supply chain.”
IGD director of health and sustainability programmes, Mark Little added: “The Food Waste Reduction Roadmap has made significant progress in the four years since launch, often against the backdrop of a hugely challenging external environment. This goes to show the genuine drive our industry has to create tangible, positive change on the issues that matter to us all.”
