UK grocers have exceeded targets to cut food waste over the past five years, but have failed to cut packaging waste, according to official figures published today.
The results of a voluntary agreement between the UK grocery sector and the Government’s waste reduction delivery body
Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) show 670,000 tonnes of
food waste and 550,000 tonnes of
packaging have been avoided since the agreement began in 2005.
However, while the industry has managed to prevent an increase in packaging
waste, it has failed to reduce it. Total packaging has consistently remained at approximately 2.9 million tonnes between 2006 and 2009.
The first phase of the
Courtauld Commitment, signed by the UK grocery sector and WRAP five years ago, has achieved greatest success in reducing
food waste. In 2009/10, the UK grocery industry cut food waste by 270,000 tonnes more than in 2007/08. The target was to reduce food waste by 155,000 tonnes per year.
Emissions cutsWRAP said £1.8 billion had been saved through the programme, while 3.3 million tonnes of
CO2 equivalent emissions had been avoided – the same as stopping half a million around-the-world flights.
WRAP said the main reason for missing the industry’s target on reducing packaging waste was down to a 6.4 per cent increase in grocery sales volumes since the agreement began in 2005 and participating retailers taking a greater proportion of the market for beer and wine. Bottles and cans for beer, wine and cider represent a third of all grocery packaging by weight.
WRAP said that on average, across the range of groceries sold by signatories to the Courtauld agreement, packaging had in fact reduced by around four per cent for each product.
Good progress
"This is good progress particularly against the backdrop of an unexpected increase in grocery sales," said Liz Goodwin, chief executive officer at WRAP, which manages the Courtauld Commitment. "Bringing together major players, including all the big supermarkets, and drawing on our combined expertise, is really helping householders put less packaging and food waste in their bins.
"We’re especially pleased with the food waste reduction which is way beyond target."
The British Retail Consortium today hailed the agreement as a "spectacular achievement".
"These are spectacular reductions against very ambitious targets, all achieved without legislation," said Stephen Robertson, director General of the BRC. "And this is not a one off. It builds on big reductions in waste to landfill, transport emissions and carrier bags.
"Preventing waste is the holy grail of the drive for a zero waste economy."
Bad news
Environmental group Friends of the Earth welcomed progress on cutting food waste, but said it was "bad news" that retailers had failed to reduce total packaging waste.
"Industry supported higher targets to recycle packaging waste in the consultation held earlier this year – but the Government's ongoing silence risks undermining future progress on dealing with the problem," said Friends of the Earth's resource use campaigner Julian Kirby.
"Britain buries and burns at least £650 million of recyclable materials every year – we need urgent action to shift us towards a genuinely zero waste society."
Next phase
The next phase of the Courtauld Commitment will concentrate on the carbon impact of packaging, looking at measuring and reducing the entire carbon impact of products throughout their lifecycle, including manufacture, packaging, transportation and use in the home.
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