New initiative aims to cut waste in pre-prepared food sector

Peta Hodge

2nd March 2010

A new initiative has been launched with the ultimate aim of reducing the amount of waste in the UK’s pre-prepared food sector.

The starting point is a research project led by WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme) that aims to ‘map’ the amount of food and packaging waste generated by four representative products – sandwiches, pizza, quiche and ready meals – at key stages in the chilled and frozen supply chains.

The mapping will include calculations for the associated carbon emissions and economic impact, as well as for the amount of water used and disposed of during the manufacture of the products.

The idea is that this information will be used to develop best practice guidance on minimising waste in storage, handling and packaging, establishing a benchmark against which businesses can measure themselves.

Maps will identify food waste 'hot spots'

The maps will also include WRAP data on levels of packaging and food waste from households, so that a whole chain can be seen and the ‘hot spots’ identified.

Charlotte Henderson, retail supply chain programme manager at WRAP, said: “Identifying where waste is generated, and the reasons why, will help the development of effective solutions which are tailored to these products, with learnings then applied across the category.

“By sharing these with the sector, we aim to help companies at all stages of the supply chain access these commercial and environmental benefits.”

Kaarin Goodburn, secretary general, Chilled Foods Association (CFA) added: "Waste is a strategic issue for chilled food manufacturers to reduce both costs and support future food security and sustainability agendas.

“We hope this project will build on CFA's sustainability activities over the best part of a decade, providing a comparison with 2005 Defra-funded work and tracking progress in reducing waste.

“Informal CFA data indicates members have, since 2003, reduced waste by more than 25 per cent and reliance on landfill by nearly 70 per cent."

This is the third resource mapping project of this kind launched by WRAP. The previous two – for the fruit and vegetable and meat and fish sectors – are due to be completed in the next few months.

Similar waste mapping projects likely to follow for other sectors

A spokesperson confirmed that similar projects, for other sectors, are likely to follow. She said resource mapping of this kind is a useful tool, “Not just in finding the [waste] hotspots, but identifying why they happen and stopping them hotting up in the first place.”

WRAP is urging businesses in the pre-prepared food sector to take part in the survey by emailing resourcemaps@wrap.org.uk for more information.