1/8

The U.K. Makes Astounding Progress Towards Target12.3 Goal

profoodworld.com/sustainability/article/21615034/the-uk-makes-astounding-progress-towards-target-123-goal

Global efforts result in a set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals, like Target 12.3

2/8

Liz Goodwin, senior fellow and director, food loss and waste, World Resources Institute

Food waste is an issue all along the supply chain–from farm to consumer–which has been

exacerbated by the pandemic. As explained in a previous PFW article, “Solutions to Decrease

Food Waste on the Consumer Level,” “the empty shelves and job insecurity caused by the

pandemic have driven the issue of food waste into the minds of consumers. Tetra Pak’s

COVID-19 and the Food Safety–Environment Dilemma study states that one-third of food

produced for human consumption goes to waste.”

Months after the publication of Tetra Pak’s study, RTS’s article, “Food Waste in America in

2021,” seconds the Tetra Pak research and further explains that while “the world wastes 1.4

billion tons of food, the U.S. wastes nearly 40 million tons every year—estimated to be 30-

40% of the entire U.S. food supply—equating to 219 pounds of waste per person.” This results

in food being the single largest component taking up space in U.S. landfills as well, making

up 22% of municipal solid waste (MSW), according to RTS.

Though food waste is an issue throughout the supply chain, a majority of waste occurs on the

consumer level. Both the above-mentioned articles home in on reasons why consumers end

up wasting so much food–notably, confusion surrounding expiry labels and associated food

spoilage, both real and perceived. RTS research found that more than 80% of Americans

discard perfectly good food due to misunderstanding the expiration label.

To solve the issue of food waste, efforts are being made on all fronts, from streamlining

expiration labels and employee training on the manufacturer end, to raising awareness and

educating consumers on best practices. The RTS article highlights legislative actions on state

levels that restrict the amount of food waste going into landfills and that create composting

education and infrastructure. These state efforts are trickling into U.S. school systems as

well, reports the article.

unPACKED with Packaging World Podcast: 10 Billion Reasons to Embrace ReusablePackaging

Further noted, on a national level, “the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) set a goal in 2015 to reduce food waste by half by

2030.” The U.S. is not the only country to set such a goal.

The U.K.’s success story

In 2015, at the United Nations General Assembly, countries from around the world adopted a

set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 12.3), one of which is referred to as Target

12.3 which calls for cutting in half the per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer

levels, as well as reducing food loss along production and supply chains, by 2030.

3/8

In 2020, the U.K. became the first country to pass the halfway mark to the 2030 goal and

recognized the accomplishment with the release of “The Food Waste Series: The Great British

Success Story,” a webinar featuring multiple champions from Champion 12.3–a coalition of

individuals, from business executives to government officials to farmer groups–dedicated to

achieving Target 12.3 by 2030. The webinar participants included:

Liz Goodwin, senior fellow and director, food loss and waste, World Resources Institute

Marcus Gover, chief executive officer, WRAP

Ken Murphy, group chief executive, Tesco

Tristam Stuart, founder, Feedback

Liz Goodwin started off the webinar by stating, “Every time we throw away food, we are

throwing away water, land, energy, carbon, and the time that was put into producing it. It’s

fair to say we will not create a sustainable food system or achieve greenhouse gas emission

targets and biodiversity loss targets unless we tackle food loss and waste.” This is why the

U.K. made reducing food loss and waste its personal mission and started work on achieving

its goals 15 years ago with research measurement to determine the what, where, how, and

why of food waste in the U.K. The research was provided by WRAP, a charity that promotes

and encourages sustainable resource use.

Liz Goodwin, senior fellow and director, food loss and waste, World Resources Institute

The research shows around 70% of food waste generated in the U.K. comes from households,

which thus became the focus area. The other 30% is generated within the supply chain,

especially in the retail and hospitality sector. Since the research began, food waste in the U.K.

has been reduced by 27%, said Goodwin.

Marcus Gover, chief executive officer at WRAP, elaborated on the results of reaching this

midway goal, stating it equates to 1.7 billion tons less food wasted per year, saving £4.7

billion per year (or $6.54 billion). He also explained that the reduced greenhouse gas

emissions equal that of 2.4 million cars.

4/8

Marcus Gover, chief executive officer, WRAP

This proves that for the majority of companies, there is a clear business case for taking action

to reduce food loss and waste. The median company, according to WRAP research, has a 14

to one payback on taking steps to tackle food waste. And often, the steps required are low- or

no-cost actions, according to Goodwin. She also said that “households benefit from reducing

food waste. The average family with children in the U.K. wastes about £60 a month because

of food waste.”

Goodwin emphasized that the target-measure-act approach taken on by the Champions 12.3

initiative coalition needs collaboration between governments, businesses, and citizens to be

most effective. Gover agreed, saying that critical factors to successfully make such changes

include “having a pre-competitive and trusted platform for bringing government and

business together, and a strong consumer brand to help drive citizen consumer behavior

change.”

The U.K. champions came to these conclusions through a series of trial and error. Gover

explained that they tried many things that didn’t work, such as working without evidence,

focusing on awareness instead of behavior change, having a policy framework focused solely

on reporting, and not working together, which includes competitors.

Gover said, “We worked with the Institute of Grocery Distribution to develop a common

method measurement methodology and developed the U.K. food waste reduction roadmap to

bring all of the businesses together.” Other effective collaborations included working with the

Food Standards Agency to simplify and clarify date labels. Making technical changes to

packaging has also helped reduce food waste.

5/8

Ken Murphy, group chief executive, Tesco

Tesco, a British grocery and general merchandise retailer, serves as an example of successful

collaboration on the retail end. Ken Murphy, a group chief executive at Tesco, elaborated on

the effectiveness of collaboration, explaining that “companies not only standing up and

joining the fight but reporting their progress is really important.” Tesco started measuring

food waste in 2013 and reports food waste data for every market it serves in. The company

has more than halved the food waste in its three Central European markets. Many of the

company’s suppliers have followed suit and are publishing their own food waste data, which

has helped in cutting more than 155,000 tons of waste from operations in three years.

Additionally, no food waste from Tesco has gone to landfill since 2009.

In 2019, Tesco’s approach was used as a template for a 10 by 20 by 30 initiative for the

whole-chain approach to fighting food loss and waste. To date, 54 U.K. suppliers have

committed to halve food waste, as well as public reporting. Tesco has seen very little

resistance from its suppliers in making these changes.

In addition, Murphy reported that, in 2020, Tesco extended its scope of reporting for

produce suppliers to include farm waste. This is beyond the scope of SDG 12.3, but Tesco

believes it is a hotspot in the supply chain. Getting the measure of the waste levels at farms

6/8

has proven to be difficult, however, and Tesco has turned to the WWF to better understand

the issues of farm loss and waste. “Don’t let the lower percentage of 30% food waste being

caused by supply chain be a reason for complacency but rather a call to arms,” said Murphy.

How consumers can help reduce food waste

To better understand food waste at home, Tesco partnered with the environmental charity

hubbub to develop a six-week pilot for 53 households, testing which interventions are the

most successful in cutting household food waste. Participants could contact Tesco and each

other, sharing experiences, progress, and advice around meal planning, batch cooking, and

storage, as well as recipe inspiration from Tesco’s chefs. The findings show:

Participants averaged a staggering 76% reduction in food waste

90% began using all the food they bought

88% changed how they store food

62% cut their weekly food bill, for an average saving of £16.50/week, equal to

£858/year (or $1,188.50)

Tristam Stuart, founder of Feedback, struck home with one last important element of cutting

food waste in the U.K.: “public, audacious, citizen-led campaigning,” as he put it. “All the

money, connections, and worldwide initiatives come after years of vigorous campaigning in

the public sphere.” This aspect was also touched on by Gover, who said providing enough

funding is another critical issue. “The cost might seem high, but the payback is absolutely

huge,” he said. The coalition created a Food Waste Action Week, which called on

governments and international organizations as well, to gather funding.

Tristam Stuart, founder, Feedback

7/8

Thanks to the campaigning, in 2013, the groceries code adjudicator act was passed in U.K.

“This was seismic and world leading,” said Stuart. “It meant that supermarkets were no

longer allowed to cancel orders at the last minute with the result that food was going to be

wasted, and the cost was going to fall on suppliers. This essentially made it illegal for

supermarkets to offload their waste onto the suppliers.” This is helping reduce waste from

importing and high cosmetic standards.

Stuart’s company and efforts also center around getting excess food to charities and

foodbanks in need and the movement to upcycle. Stuart recently launched Toast Ale, which

makes beer using bread that would have otherwise gone bad, with all the profits going to

Feedback, which is essentially a charity to tackle food waste.

Hartman Group’s article, “Upcycled Food Products: Sustainable Solutions for Food Waste for

Consumers and Companies Alike,” seconds the results found in both the Tetra Pak study and

RTS article that food waste has become trending news for consumers. This, in turn, has also

brought upcycled consumer product goods (CPG) products, made from formerly discarded

food ingredients, to the forefront.

According to the article, “the Upcycled Food Association (UFA), as part of advancing its long-

term vision to ensure ‘all food is elevated to its highest and best use’ published its first

certification standard in 2020 and is developing a food label for certified products.” The

article concludes that as a significant portion of greenhouse gas emissions come from food

waste, upcycled food certification standards give consumers the possibility to further help

reduce food waste.

How companies can help reduce food waste

The Hartman’s Group article explains that companies can work with their hauler partners to

set up programs to make sure their organics are composted rather than being sent to landfill.

Redirection (or donation) of unused food that would otherwise be wasted is also an option.

The article further explains that human error, including lack of standard operating

procedures and poor training, is the main cause of food waste at the manufacturing level,

which accounts for more than 10% of food waste in the U.S. FoodBev Media’s article,

“Tackling the Problem of Food Waste in Manufacturing,” expands on the issue of human

error, saying that human error-caused food waste accounted for 75% of participating

companies in its study.

Another issue in manufacturing pointed out in the FoodBev Media article is the lack of

forecasting, which leads to a large number of manufacturers being unable to determine the

right amount of raw ingredients required to manufacture products. The result is a substantial

amount of food going to waste.

B&G Foods, Liffey Meats, Graphic Packaging, and More Protect the Planet

8/8

“With more effective and precise forecasting models, food manufacturers will not have to

play the guessing game anymore. And instead, they can maximize their time producing the

right amount of food products,” says Erich Lawson, an environmental writer who assisted in

the study.

Lawson also suggests another solution: “Having the right ERP software in place will facilitate

food waste reduction efforts by food manufacturers and distributors. With ERP software in

place, manufacturers can analyze shelf life, track slots, prevent cross-contamination, avoid

overstocking, and [place] accurate inventory orders.”

Dr. Manoj Dora, the lead researcher of the study adds that food processing companies can

use innovative management systems such as lean manufacturing, to prevent food loss, which

though only recently applied to the food industry, has already shown to be an effective tool,

applicable even to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

A last solution offered by the researchers is to include food loss in key performance indicators

(KPIs), as well as the use of appropriate planning and scheduling tools, to help companies

reduce the problem to manageable proportions. According to Dora, “While KPIs can improve

the awareness, targeting, and monitoring of food loss, holistic approaches to equipment

maintenance can avoid breakdowns, small stops, defects, or accidents. However, further

research is needed to determine effective strategies to empower operators and create shared

responsibility for equipment maintenance and food loss measurement, such as through the

visualization of food loss objectives.”

PACK EXPO Las Vegas and Healthcare Packaging EXPO (Sept. 27-29, Las

Vegas Convention Center) will reunite the packaging and processing

community. With over 1400 exhibitors, no other event in 2021 will bring

together a more comprehensive gathering of suppliers offering new products,

technologies and solutions. Attendee registration is now open.