Federation House Commitment - Helping the food & drink industry improve water efficiency
Progress report 2012
The amount of water saved between 2007 and 2011 by FHC signatories could fill nearly 2,400 Olympic-size swimming pools.
Report contents:
Executive summary
Foreword
Introduction
Progress to date
Commitment overview
FHC signatory benefits
Supporting information
Case studies
Steps to progress
FHC signatories
Download full report: Progress Report 2012 - pdf
Executive summary
For the past four years, the Federation House
Commitment (FHC), managed by WRAP in partnership
with the Food and Drink Federation (FDF), has
been helping signatories across the food and drink
manufacturing sector turn their commitments into real
water savings.
Between April 2011 and December 2011[1], 17 new
companies signed up to the FHC, making public their
commitment to reducing water use. An additional
company signed up in February 2012, bringing the total
number of signatories to 70 across 278[2] active sites.
Together, these signatories represent an estimated 24%
of UK food and drink manufacturing[3]. Collectively the
signatories are in a position to make a significant impact
on the amount of water used by the entire sector. As
the number of signatories continues to grow, the FHC's
contribution and sphere of influence will also continue
to increase.
Between 2007 and 2011 signatories collectively made
a 14.4% reduction in their water use (excluding that in
product). This reduction is equivalent to 5.9 million m3
or around 2,400 Olympic-size swimming pools.
There has also been a significant reduction in water
use (excluding that in product) per tonne of product;
22.7% compared to the 2007 baseline – a reduction of
0.58 m3/tonne product. This is a significant achievement
given that production for these sites increased by 10.7%
over the same reporting period.
Between April 2011 and December 2011, 50 site visits
were undertaken by FHC technical advisors, with around
1.3 million m3 of water saving opportunities identified in
addition to the water already saved. This represents an
average of 10% of total water used by these sites.
Data for 2011 was provided by more sites than ever,
and in record time. The quality of this data was much
improved compared to previous years – a testament
to the signatories' continued commitment to improved
monitoring and reporting methods.
Next page: Foreword
- Richard Benyon, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Natural Environment and
Fisheries
- Richard Lochhead
Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs
and the Environment,
Scottish Government
More information
1. Signatories who signed up before April 2011 were included in the
previous FHC report. From 2012 onwards, new signatories will be
reported by calendar year in line with the reporting period for FHC
data.
2. A number of sites have closed during the course of the FHC
programme.
3. This is based on a comparison between 2007 total water use data
for the FHC signatories and the food and drink sector water use,
based on FISS 2006 data.