Food waste

Defra have published a summary of responses and government response to the consultation on ‘Improved food waste reporting by large food businesses in England’. An analysis for members is provided below. To flag that Government have confirmed that a regulatory approach is not suitable at this time, and they will instead be looking at options to improve the number of food businesses reporting through a voluntary approach.

Our analysis for FDF members is available as ESC-024-23.

Next steps:

Food and drink is one of seven priority waste streams covered in the updated waste prevention programme for England published last Friday and outlines Government’s updated approach including support for: household food waste; hospitality food waste; citizen campaigns; collaboration through the Courtauld Commitment; consistent collections for households; and increasing the number of businesses measuring and publicly reporting their food waste. Since April 2023, we have been reviewing FDF’s approach to food waste policy to maximise where FDF and members can read the project overview in ESC-017-23.

FDF members deal with their food and drink surplus and waste using the food and drink waste hierarchy’s list of options, where 1 is the best and 8 is the worst.

Step one is to prevent and reduce food waste.  In order to facilitate this and help the UK food industry achieve UN Sustainable Development Goal 12.3, WRAP and IGD created the Food Waste Reduction Roadmap.  Refreshed and updated in 2022, it is the result of an industry-wide programme of work consulting widely with businesses, trade bodies and others from agriculture, production and manufacture, retail and hospitality and food service. 

Committing to the Roadmap and accessing its resources is free, and enables businesses to take a ‘Target, Measure, Act’ approach and thus reduce the environmental and financial impact of food waste.

Food Waste Reduction Roadmap

Where surplus arises in manufacturing, redistribution to humans is one way to prevent waste and forms step two of the food and drink waste hierarchy.  By redistributing surplus, businesses reduce the environmental impact of potential waste and it also provides social and economic benefits. There are both commercial and charitable options for surplus.

By partnering with redistributors, surplus can go to community organisations that help support and feed people. Demand for organisation’s services have risen significantly over the past few years, and food insecurity is on the rise. Surplus that goes to charities has the benefits of going to people who are in need of food, and also these charities spend less on food and can therefore invest their money into providing other core services.

To find out more, WRAP have a resource hub with links to guidance and the various organisations that can accept surplus food fit for human consumption.

The latest WRAP statistics show that in 2022, food and drink manufacturers increased the amount of food and drink redistributed by 29%.  52,424 tonnes were redistributed which was the equivalent to 129 meals.  For organisations who submitted yearly data between 2019 and 2022, surplus from manufacture has increased by nearly 18,000 tonnes (+69%).

As an industry, we are committed to increasing support for redistribution, which not only provides a vital lifeline to millions of vulnerable groups but also minimises food waste. The FDF sits on the WRAP Courtauld Surplus Food Redistribution Working Group, comprising of food redistributors, retailers and our members to identify ways of increasing the beneficial use of surplus products.  FDF has partnered with food redistributors and members to create educational webinars and podcasts to increase the partnerships formed across industry with redistributors, links to which are further down the page.