War on waste steps up a gear

The assault on food industry waste has intensified with the launch of comprehensive research enabling treatment firms to target investment to meet the sector’s waste reduction targets.

The Food and Drink Federation (FDF) and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs have published an in-depth survey on the issue. It reported that manufacturers prevented over 500,000t of food waste being created in 2006 by sending food by-products for uses such as animal feed.

Of the waste that did arise at the sites surveyed, 82% was recycled or recovered. The survey also found that of the 835,000t of food and packaging waste produced at 236 production sites of FDF members in 2006, 686,000t was recycled or recovered in some form. Overall, only 138,000t was sent directly to landfill.

The study will help inform the FDF’s work with the government’s Waste & Resources Action Programme to continue improving food and packaging waste prevention. It should also encourage 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.

Launching an initiative designed to cut the environmental impact caused by the food sector’s use of road haulage at a House of Commons reception last week, FDF President Iain Ferguson said about the waste survey prior its publication: “That’s a key step in delivering our zero food and packaging waste to landfill [targets] and it will send a clear signal to companies in the waste treatment sector who are making investment decisions about new waste treatment capacity, encouraged by government grants.”

Ferguson added: “It’s absolutely clear that in order to achieve this ambition we have to make sure there is the recycling and treatment capacity and the actual capital investment takes place.”

In the FDF transport initiative, about 40 companies have pledged to make fewer, greener food transport miles, ascribing to the FDF’s Environmental Checklist and Clause for use with haulage contractors for Greener Food Transport. Ferguson said: “The companies who have signed up to the Checklist and Clause today are the first of what we hope will be many more signatories to this commitment to achieving fewer and friendlier food transport miles.”

Signatories to the transport initiative, including some of the world’s biggest household brands, have committed to using a 10-point checklist embedding environmental standards into companies’ transport practices. It includes contracts with third-party hauliers to achieve fewer and friendlier food miles. The checklist dovetails with the work being done by IGD on transport collaboration​.

The checklist covers: maximising vehicle loading; the ratio of trailers to trucks; vehicle emissions standards; use of vehicle tracking technology; reducing empty running; and avoiding difficult routes. The other areas it looks at are: use of rail and shipping; participation in industry best practice forums; driver training; and vehicle maintenance.

The latest moves follow earlier initiatives such as those set out in FDF’s Five-fold Environmental Ambition, announced last year​ and the Federation House commitment​ on water use, announced earlier this year.