Written evidence submitted by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (FOW0046)
Introduction
1. Food waste is a devolved issue. This response is provided by the UK Government’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), and the policy position outlined in this paper relates to the approach taken in England. It is focused on consumers, the retail and hospitality sector, and local government, rather than action pre-farm gate and in food manufacturing (as these are outside the scope of this Inquiry).
2. Food waste has a financial, environmental and social cost. Businesses produce food that never reaches the consumer and households buy food which they do not eat. There are environmental costs in the resources, energy and water used to produce food which is not eaten and greenhouse gases produced if it goes to landfill.
3. Food waste is an issue throughout the world and international organisations have made commitments to tackle this. On 27 September 2015, UN member states agreed 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) to be achieved by 2030. SDG 12 – to ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns – includes the following food waste target:
“By 2030, halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses”.
4. Working through the Waste and Resource Action Programme (WRAP), the UK Government has made significant progress to reduce food waste. This has been achieved through initiatives such as the Courtauld Commitment, a voluntary agreement with retailers and food manufacturers, the Hospitality and Food Services Agreement (HaFSA), and the Love Food Hate Waste (LFHW) campaign, which gives consumers advice and tips on reducing food waste at home. We want to do more. WRAP launched Courtauld 2025 on 15 March, which builds on the progress we have already made. This new agreement includes a target to reduce food and drink waste in the UK by 20% by 2025.
Key statistics
5. 10 million tonnes of food and drink waste arise each year in the UK. Around 70% (7 Mts) is from households and 30% from other sources (1.7 Mt from manufacturing, 0.9 Mt from hospitality and food service sector, 0.2 Mt from retail). We estimate 60% of this waste could have been avoided.
6. In 2011, WRAP estimated that avoidable food waste in the UK was responsible for greenhouse gas emissions of 20 million tonnes CO2 equivalent per year. This represented approximately 3% of the UK’s domestic greenhouse gas emissions (equivalent to that produced by over 7 million cars per year).
7. We calculate that UK householders spend £12.5bn every year on food that could have been eaten but ends up being thrown away. This is £470 a year for the average household and £700 a year for the average household with children. Waste in the UK food industry is estimated at £6.5billion per year.
8. When surplus food is not prevented, it can be redistributed for consumption. 710,000 tonnes of food surplus from manufacturing and retail is either being distributed via charitable and commercial routes (47,000 tonnes in 2015) or being diverted to produce animal feed (660,000 tonnes in 2015).
9. Separate food waste collection is an effective way of diverting unavoidable food waste from landfill and 53% of local authorities in England provided food waste collections in 2015/16, either separate or mixed with garden waste.
10. In 2013, packaging waste was estimated to be 10.4 million tonnes. This represents about 10% of all commercial and industrial waste and about 20% of all household waste. In 2013, 6.7 million tonnes of the 10.4 million tonnes of packaging waste (64.6%) was recycled.
Food waste hierarchy
11. The food waste hierarchy sets out steps for preventing and managing food waste to minimise the impact on the environment. The best option is to prevent raw materials, ingredients and products from becoming waste in the first place. If surplus cannot be prevented, then redistribution to people and then animal feed is the next best option. The best way of treating food waste is to recycle it by sending it to anaerobic digestion or composting. Recovery through the incineration of waste with energy recovery comes next in the hierarchy. .At the bottom of the hierarchy, the worst way of dealing with food waste is disposal through waste incineration without energy recovery or landfill.
Voluntary approach
12. The UK Government applies a voluntary approach to implementing the food waste hierarchy to deliver food waste reductions. There have been large-scale interventions in place since 2007 aimed at reducing food waste across supply chains and within households. The programme of activity has been delivered by WRAP through a series of voluntary agreements with the food industry. The main activity has been three phases of the Courtauld Commitment with food retailers and manufacturers – this ran between 2007 and 2015. The Hospitality and Food Service Agreement (2012 – 2015) was a further voluntary agreement to support the sector in reducing waste and recycling more. The Love Food Hate Waste campaign (launched in 2007) provides advice and guidance to consumers to help them waste less food and save money.
13. Household food waste Retailers have a key role to play in influencing consumers to reduce the amount of food wasted in the home and the Courtauld Commitment has therefore included targets to reduce food waste in the home. This has led to a combination of actions and innovations by retailers such as re-sealable salad bags, meal planning, recipe ideas using leftovers, and smaller size loaves of bread.
14. The Love Food Hate Waste Campaign (LFHW) was developed by WRAP to provide information to individuals to help them make decisions about managing food effectively to avoid waste. Initiatives have included a meal planner, storage advice, information about date labels, recipes and advice about leftovers. In 2014 - 2016, WRAP worked with partners to deliver the ’10 cities’ initiative which included LFHW campaigns in cities across the UK.
15. Household food waste reduced by 15% between 2007 and 2012 despite an increase of 4% in the number of households in the UK. This reduction alone has avoided 18 million tonnes of carbon dioxide entering the atmosphere. WRAP is expected to publish updated figures for household food waste before the end of this year.
16. The Retail Sector Under the second phase of the Courtauld Commitment (2009-2012) , supply chain food and packaging waste in the grocery sector reduced by 7.4%. The amount of food waste in the retail sector was 210,000 tonnes in 2014. According to figures reported by the British Retail Consortium, levels of food waste reported in 2014 were around 10% lower than in 2013. Retailers have achieved these reductions through initiatives such as clearer labelling to reduce confusion in store and at home, and introducing store-specific ranges of fresh food tailored to local demographics and demand. Supermarkets have also been working on projects to increase the shelf life of products and to promote products that are close to their end of life through prominent placements or discounts. Results from the third phase of the Courtauld Commitment will be published before the end of this year.
17. The Hospitality Sector Signatories to the Hospitality and Food Service Agreement have also reported progress. Initiatives include developing online training resources for the Hospital Caterers Association and Chartered Institute of Environmental Health. Other resources have been produced for the sector including online training materials for making the most out of the food bought and improved menu planning, and guidance on understanding legislation to prevent food waste. Signatories have been piloting approaches to prevent waste and sharing results across the sector and have also been reviewing their waste management contracts to improve recycling rates. Interim results show signatories achieved a reduction in CO2e emissions of 3.6% by preventing food waste and the food and packaging recycling rate rose from 45% to 57% between 2012 and 2014.
18. Food Redistribution The UK has a number of organisations who redistribute surplus food from the supply chain (from supermarkets, for example) to charities, community groups or employees. The UK Government has instigated a variety of actions to increase surplus food redistribution, including a Ministerial round table in 2012, an industry working group, research, case studies, and industry guiding principles, delivered through WRAP. All major supermarkets now have relationships with redistribution organisations, and signatories to the Courtauld Commitment reported a 74% increase in the amount of food redistributed to people between 2012 and 2014. During this period, there has been a 47% increase in the amount of surplus food being sent for redistribution in the hospitality and food service sector. One way in which this increase has been achieved is through restaurants and catering companies using the services of various organisations who match them with local charities who can receive their surplus food.
19. A further roundtable with supermarkets, food manufacturers and redistribution organisations was held in January 2015 to agree new actions to further increase levels of food redistributed. A working group has developed a partnership model to provide a consistent framework for providers and recipients of surplus food to reach agreement on working together, which was published in March 2016. Research has also been published by WRAP in May 2016 to identify where and why waste and surpluses occur in the supply chain to inform further action to increase waste prevention and redistribution. In addition, WRAP also published guidance on the use of food surplus in animal feed production, together with various case studies. These help retailers (and manufacturers) redistribute surplus food for human consumption or when that is not possible to consider animal feed opportunities.
20. Packaging is a good example of innovations driven by Courtauld which have helped consumers to reduce food waste, for example the light-weighting of plastic and glass bottles and vacuum packed meat staying fresher for longer. The 2013 data reported by signatories showed a significant reduction in the carbon impact of packaging, which is down by around 4.5%, well ahead of the 2015 target of zero increase.
21. Labelling Although the UK Government’s approach is based around voluntary agreements, legislation plays a limited role. The Food Information to Consumers (FIC) regulation (1169/2011) specifies a number of mandatory labelling requirements for food which contribute indirectly to the reduction of food waste. This includes the use by date, storage conditions, instructions for use where necessary, and a requirement that food information shall not be misleading, and shall be accurate, clear and easy to understand for the consumer. Central and local government authorities work together to ensure that these requirements are maintained for the benefit of the consumer. Article 8(4) of FIC prohibits food business operators from modifying food information accompanying a food if such modification would ‘mislead the final consumer or otherwise reduce the level of consumer protection and the possibilities for the final consumer to make informed choices’. However, so long as those restrictions are respected, the food information, including the ‘use by’ date can be changed providing that the food is safe to eat during the extended use by period, and this action can be used to reduce food waste, for example by donating food to charity.
22. Defra and the Food Standards Agency (FSA) published date-marking guidance in 2011 to help ensure dates are applied consistently. This makes it easier for consumers to understand date markings. ‘Use-by’ labels should only be used where the safety of food cannot be guaranteed after that date. Most other foods should have a ‘best-before’ date only, to indicate when the food is no longer at its best, but is still safe to eat. We are seeing date markings meet the guidance. For example, more labels are starting to drop the confusing ‘display until’ dates that are only for stock rotation.
23. Local authorities have a key role to play in promoting food waste reduction and recovery. Following the waste hierarchy, we would like to see a significant increase in the number of councils that collect food waste. In 2015/16, 53% of local authorities in England collected food waste (either separately or mixed with garden waste).
24. Ultimately it would be for the local authority to decide on the best mix of services taking into account legal requirements, local views and circumstances and costs of delivery. However, WRAP has carried out pilot projects to help local authorities collect efficiently and increase the amount of food waste collected. WRAP published an updated household food waste collections guide in March 2016. The guide is aimed at local authorities planning a new food waste collection scheme. It also provides advice to local authorities who wish to increase participation in their existing schemes.
25. In July 2016 WRAP also published an industry and local authority led Food Waste Recycling Action Plan. This Action Plan aims to increase the supply and quality of unavoidable household and commercial food waste to the food waste recycling industry (anaerobic digestion and composting).
Next steps
26. Courtauld 2025 The UK Government wants to build on the progress already made, and is working to achieve this through Courtauld 2025, which was launched in March 2016. This is a commitment by stakeholders across the whole of the supply chain. It will identify priorities, develop solutions and implement changes – both within signatory organisations and by spreading best practice across the UK.
27. The commitment goes further than before with three ambitious targets to be reached by 2025. One of these is to reduce food waste as a whole (20% reduction per capita in food and drink waste arising in the UK.) This reduction includes preventing waste from arising and ensuring that surpluses go to redistribution or animal feed as appropriate rather than going to waste. WRAP analysis indicates that this reduction would deliver an estimated £20 billion savings to the UK economy, including £4 billion savings to businesses (the majority of savings would benefit householders). It also aims to deliver a 20% reduction in greenhouse gas intensity of food and drink consumed in the UK, and a reduction in the impact associated with water use in the supply chain.
28. Later this year, WRAP will start to implement a new strategy for the Love Food Hate Waste campaign, working in partnership with signatories, with the aim of delivering further reductions in household food waste. This will involve a range of communications methods, and food businesses providing practical advice to consumers on-pack and through other aspects of the retail experience (loyalty cards, online shopping etc), particularly for the most wasted food products. There are now fewer opportunities to reduce many types of packaging further without risking increased product wastage. Now the focus for business is to improve design to optimise recycled content, improve recyclability and help to reduce food waste/product damage.
29. Redistribution WRAP has established a Redistribution Working Group under this new agreement to share best practice, and help identify and overcome barriers to redistributing food. This Working Group met for the first time in July. WRAP will also be working with signatories to track redistribution separately from prevention and diversion to animal feed, so they can ensure they are observing the waste hierarchy.
30. Labelling The FSA are working with Defra to review the current Date Marking Guidance to encourage redistribution of foods. This will include reviewing how to manage foods that are past their “Use By” date but still safe to eat. A simplified and shortened version of the guidance for charities is also being considered, with easier language, visuals, food lists, signposting and education.
31. Local authorities WRAP published a framework for greater consistency in household recycling on 13 September. Among other things, this will recommend separate collection of food waste to be sent to anaerobic digestion. WRAP will be working with local authorities to demonstrate the benefits that can be achieved from greater consistency.
September 2016.