Yesterday (15 March) Waste & Resources Action Plan (WRAP) unveiled the Courtauld Commitment 2025, a voluntary agreement that brings together organisations across the food system – from producer to consumer – to make food and drink production and consumption more sustainable.
Signatories, which also included hospitality organisations the British Hospitality Association (BHA) and The British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA) have agreed to help bring about:
- A 20 per cent reduction in food and drink waste arising in the UK
- A 20 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas intensity of food & drink consumed in the UK
- A reduction in impact associated with water use in the supply chain
BBPA chief executive Brigid Simmonds said: “In the UK today, for every two tonnes of food consumed, one tonne is wasted, and with projections for two billion more mouths to feed across the globe by 2050, it’s easy to see why the commitments agreed to in Courtauld 2025 are so important.
“Working with WRAP to identify new actions and opportunities to save resources, as the BBPA and all other signatories will do, can help to put the UK on track to reduce food waste by half, in accordance with the UN Sustainable Development Goal 12.3.”
Commitment
KFC, also one of the founding signatories, outlined how it would honour its commitment.
"Our food donation scheme, which is now in 60 restaurants around the country, will help us make progress as we continue to roll it out into half of all of our 890 restaurants in the UK & Ireland by the end of 2016. In addition, 2015 saw us we reach our target of recycling 80 per cent of back of house waste and we are pushing to go beyond this in 2016 and by April 2017, we aim to have zero waste to landfill," said Janet Cox, head of Health, Safety & Environment at KFC UKI.
Dr Richard Swannell, director of sustainable food systems at WRAP, said efforts needed to be made to safeguard the future of food in the UK.
"We need a step-change to increase sustainable food and drink production and consumption, conserve resources and combat climate change. Courtauld 2025 will do this," he said.
“Collaboration has never been more important, which is why I want to thank the businesses and organisations that have committed to taking action. This is an ambitious undertaking and having key signatories on board on day one puts us in a strong position at the start of this new era for our food industry. I look forward to welcoming other leading organisations as signatories over the coming weeks, months and years and delivering this ambitious agreement.”
Foodservice suppliers Bidvest and Premier Foodservice also signed the agreement as did the Sustainable Restaurant Association and the Institute of Hospitality.