Reducing Water Use
FDF members are committed to making significant reductions in water use to help
reduce stress on the nation's water supplies.
The Challenge
The nation's water resources are increasingly coming under stress for various
reasons. They include: wastage due
to ailing supplier infrastructure; absence
of
a
national water grid; increasing demand; and factors such as climate
change
which
can give rise to erratic rainfall patterns. The impact can
adversely
affect local
wildlife habitats and water
quality. Tackling water
stress
is
therefore a
growing environmental priority. Industry, water
suppliers
and
consumers
all have a
part to play.
The food and drink manufacturing industry is a significant user of water. It is
an essential ingredient in many food and drink products. It is also used in food
and drink preparation, production and cleaning processes. However, the sector can
help to conserve water to alleviate water stress providing food safety and
hygiene is not compromised.
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FDF's Ambition
FDF will show leadership by raising the profile of water as a precious resource
and developing a structured programme of water conservation for FDF members.
FDF is therefore committed to developing a high level
'Courtauld-type'
Commitment1 with Envirowise, which we will
launch in early in 2008.
FDF is committed to using the Commitment to measure the collective contribution
that FDF members make towards an industry-wide absolute target2 to reduce water use, outside of that embedded in products themselves, by 20% by
2020 against a 2007 baseline. FDF supports this industry-wide goal.
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Delivering Our Ambition
FDF is working closely with Envirowise, the Government’s expert body, to
develop
and launch an FDF/ Envirowise Commitment on water efficiency best
practice,
including monitoring and annual reporting by signatories. FDF will
publish
the
aggregated results annually.
FDF will also work closely with other partners to achieve our water efficiency
ambitions.
See Reducing Water Use Case Studies
Footnote 1: The Courtauld Commitment was launched in March 2005. Under it, Waste
&
Resources Action Programme, in partnership with industry, aims to design
out growth
packaging reaching households by 2008 and to deliver absolute
reductions in the
packaging reaching households (340,000 tonnes) by 2010.
Footnote 2: Proposed in the context of the Food Industry Sustainability Strategy
published
by Defra in 2006.
The information in this section is taken from a document entitled The Environment: Making a real difference (pdf, 1.4Mb) published by FDF in October 2007 .
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Last reviewed: 18 Jan 2008