Tesco, Aldi and Sainsbury’s are among more than 30 food companies urging for government action on food waste.
Social impact company Too Good To Go, in collaboration with the British Retail Consortium (BRC), has led an open letter with signatories also including M&S, Lidl, Waitrose, Danone, Nestle and Innocent Drinks calling for the introduction of mandatory public food waste reporting.
The letter, addressed to environment secretary Steve Barclay, comes as more than a third of all food produced currently goes to waste.
Food waste contributes 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and costs £21.8bn annually to the UK economy.
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BRC director of food and sustainability Andrew Opie said: “While most retailers already report voluntarily through WRAP’s Food Waste Reduction Roadmap, mandatory reporting will enable greater transparency across the supply chain.
“Retailers will continue to engage with the government to ensure that the system works for all stakeholders, and that it aligns across the four UK nations.”
Aldi UK national sustainability director Liz Fox added: “It is important that we tackle the critical issue of food waste as an industry, and mandatory food waste reporting would be a significant step forward in doing just that.
“Food waste reporting, and analysing opportunities for improvements, has already helped us achieve one of our food waste targets early – and allowed us to be even bolder in setting a new waste-reduction goal.”
Earlier this year, Aldi set a new target to reduce food waste by 90% by 2030. It came after it achieved its previous sustainability milestone eight years early, having reached a 57% reduction in food waste since 2017.
