News article
18 July 2008
Food and Drink Manufacturers Prevent Half a Million Tonnes of Food Waste
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PRESS RELEASE
Food and drink manufacturers prevented over half a million tonnes of food waste
being created in 2006 by sending food by-products for uses such as animal feed,
according to the results of a survey published today by the Food and Drink
Federation (FDF) and Defra[1]. Of the waste that did arise at the sites
surveyed,
82% was recycled or recovered.
The survey found that of the 835,000 tonnes of food and packaging waste produced
at 236 production sites of FDF members in 2006, 686,000 tonnes were recycled or
recovered in some way. Overall, only 138,000 tonnes was sent directly to
landfill.
The survey results will help inform FDF's work with the Government's Waste &
Resources Action Programme (WRAP) to continue improving food and packaging
waste
prevention. The results should also serve as encouragement to the waste
industry
to invest in areas of the country where waste is highest and demand for new
anaerobic digesters and composting capacity is likely to be strongest.
Overall it will help FDF to fulfil its aspiration under its Five-fold
Environmental Ambition published last October to send zero food and packaging
waste to
landfill from 2015[2]. This is contributing to the Government's goals set out
in
the 2007 Waste Strategy and the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit's report 'Food
Matters: Towards a Strategy for the 21st Century' published earlier this month.
Phil Woolas MP, Environment Minister, said:
“This is very useful information from FDF. It will help the waste industry
and
local planners to understand where it's worthwhile to provide facilities like
anaerobic digestion, which is the key technology for material such as food
waste. I
chaired a meeting only this week with around fifty senior industry and NGO
executives who have pledged to work with Government on ways to increase the use
of
anaerobic digestion. Solid facts and figures like these will be a vital way of
taking that aim forward.”
Callton Young, FDF Director of Sustainability and Competitiveness, said:
"The results of this survey demonstrate the level of ongoing commitment by
FDF
members to making a significant contribution to improving the environment, by
targeting areas where they can make the biggest difference. Our members'
initiatives are preventing significant amounts of waste at their sites and it
is fantastic
that the vast majority of waste that does arise is already treated in an
environmentally friendly way. We hope that the survey results will send a
message to
the waste industry to invest more in anaerobic digestion and composting
capacity
in line with FDF's ambition to send zero food and packaging waste to landfill
from 2015."
Richard Swannell, Director of Retail and Organics Programmes, WRAP, said:
"WRAP welcomes FDF establishing a base line on food waste for its members.
The
industry is already taking steps to recycle and recover waste. This work also
shows the potential for further treatment of food waste using technology such
as
anaerobic digestion. WRAP will continue to work with FDF members on further
waste
minimisation activities and on expanding the food waste processing
infrastructure through its capital grants scheme."
More Information
For more information please contact:
Notes to Editors:
- Mapping Waste in the Food Industry is a survey commissioned jointly by FDF and
Defra. It provides a snapshot of the level of food and packaging waste arising
across FDF's member companies during 2006 and its geographical distribution.
Questionnaires were sent to all FDF members to survey their food and packaging
waste
arisings at food production sites in the UK for 2006, along with disposal and
recovery routes for each type of waste created. A copy of the full report is available (pdf, 590kb)
- FDF, on behalf of its members, made a firm and public collective commitment to
making a significant contribution to improving the environment by targeting
priorities where they can make the biggest difference. Working collectively,
our
Five-fold Environmental Ambition is:
i. to show leadership nationally and internationally by achieving a 20%
absolute reduction in CO2 emissions by 2010 compared to 1990 and aspiring to a
30%
reduction by 2020
ii. to send zero food and packaging waste to landfill from 2015
iii. to make a significant contribution to WRAP's work to achieve an absolute
reduction in the level of packaging reaching households by 2010 compared to
2005.
And provide more advice to consumers on how best to recycle or otherwise
recover
used packaging
iv. to achieve significant reductions in water use and contribute to an
industry-wide absolute target set in the Food Industry Sustainability Strategy
to
reduce water use by 20% by 2020 compared to 2007
v. to embed environmental standards in our transport practices, including our
contracts with hauliers as they fall for renewal, to achieve fewer and
friendlier
food transport miles. And contribute to an absolute target for the food chain
to
reduce its environmental and social impacts by 20% by 2012 compared to 2002.
- Case studies of some of FDF members' initiatives to reduce waste can be found
at www.fdf.org.uk/environment_casestudies.aspx
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