Mounting food waste in supply chain

Food and drink waste

A report by the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) has found the food and drink supply chain generates more than 11 million tonnes of food waste and five million tonnes of packaging each year. The estimated cost to the UK economy is GBP£17 billion, with GBP£5 billion of that total attributed to the supply chain.

Overall waste is 18.4 million tonnes per year (mt/y), of which 11.9 mt is household and 7.5 mt supply chain related. Reducing waste would provide significant financial and environmental benefits and improve resource efficiency.

Last year WRAP commissioned DHL Exel Supply Chain to conduct a study to investigate the levels of product damage, packaging and food waste occurring within the UK food and drink supply chain, focusing on three key stages - manufacture, distribution and retail. Following the completion of this study, WRAP commissionedOakdene Hollins to build upon the DHL study with the aim of developing a baseline of waste arisings within the UK food and drink supply chain, and to identify opportunities for cost savings, improved resource efficiencies and future interventions.

The report Waste arisings in the supply of food and drink to households in the UK shows that by far the largest proportion of the waste comes from households which generate 11.9 million tonnes of food and packaging waste - almost 65 percent of the total. While the manufacturing process generates 27 percent or five million tonnes of waste. Distribution and retail account for much smaller proportions of the total waste generated, although there is still scope to reduce waste in these areas.

Prevention

Retailers and brands are making an effort to reduce the impacts of packaging, by minimising and increasing recycling rates, and recycling content in packaging. This research suggests there is scope to make further efficiency savings either through further optimisation or through greater use of returnable transit packaging, where its appropriate, logisticmanager.com reports.

Recycling rates for packaging of 92 percent have been achieved for retail and 60 percent for distribution. Progress is also being made in diverting food from landfill, such as to anaerobic digestion or to charities such as FareShare . Much of the activity undertaken by retailers regarding their food waste so far seems to have focused on landfill diversion rather than waste prevention.

The report acknowledges that while retailers and brands have been making an effort to reduce their packaging and reduce food waste, more still needs to be done.

The report makes several recommendations for better waste prevention within the retail supply chain including:

• Measuring waste
• Quantifying waste arisings at sub-category level
• Improving forecasting and working in partnership with suppliers
• Shifting the emphasis from waste management to waste minimisation
• Considering how the surplus food and drink waste could be redistributed, recycled or recovered
• Behavioural change through improving communications
• Optimising packaging specifications
• Retailers playing a key role in supporting waste prevention
• Delivering change through sectoral initiatives such as the Courtauld Commitment.

The report also emphasised the importance of campaigns such as Love Food Hate Waste in encouraging households, to make better use of the food they buy and to save money.

TABLE: Estimated total waste arisings, by type, from the UK food and drink supply chain, by stage, and household, per year (tonnes) from www.wrap.org.uk

Jodie Humphries

Jodie Humphries graduated from Bath Spa University with a BA Hons in Creative Writing in 2008. She has worked for GDS Publishing for the digital group since July 2009. She has previous experience with writing for the web, running her own website since April 2007.

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