Food waste | Campaign WASTE NOT, WANT NOT 44 | <strong>EP</strong> Magaz<strong>in</strong>e | <strong>April</strong> <strong>2015</strong>
Food waste | Campaign 18% Let’s all play a role, says food waste prevention firm Go Green Tomato of the campaign to reduce food waste by 20% of the food purchased is wasted at an average cost of £10,000 per outlet gogreentomato.com Photo Th<strong>in</strong>kstockphotos.com The figures <strong>in</strong> the panel speak for themselves. There is very little doubt that there should be genu<strong>in</strong>e scope for operations of all sizes to make greater strides forward <strong>in</strong> reduc<strong>in</strong>g food waste. Sett<strong>in</strong>g aside all the moral and ethical arguments, 18% food waste from food purchased is surely too high a figure? There will always be food waste, but if each operation could reduce this figure by 5% to 13%, this would equate to a sav<strong>in</strong>g of £2,700, or 108 meals at a cost price of £25. This is not a new issue – there is a long history of food waste be<strong>in</strong>g identified as a problem. The issue is that more needs to be done. Given all the modern tools that are at our disposal, this should be more than achievable. Food waste was identified as a problem <strong>in</strong> Brita<strong>in</strong> as early as the First World War and combat<strong>in</strong>g it was one of the goals of the Women’s Institute (WI), which was set up <strong>in</strong> 1915. It rema<strong>in</strong>s one of their campaigns. Dur<strong>in</strong>g the Second World War, ration<strong>in</strong>g was imposed with effect from January 8 1940 and most foods were subject to the rul<strong>in</strong>g. By August 1940, legislation was passed that made the wast<strong>in</strong>g of food a prisonable offence. Posters encouraged kitchen waste to be used for feed<strong>in</strong>g animals, primarily for sw<strong>in</strong>e but also poultry. Despite this, it rema<strong>in</strong>s debatable whether the waste campaigns and ration<strong>in</strong>g dur<strong>in</strong>g and post Second World War achieved any long-term change <strong>in</strong> people’s attitudes towards waste – a report on domestic household waste by Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) found older people threw away as much avoidable waste as younger people. The ris<strong>in</strong>g amount of food waste over the years could also be attributed to a change of lifestyle – for <strong>in</strong>stance, the buy<strong>in</strong>g of produce that has a shorter shelf life. By the late 1990s th<strong>in</strong>gs had worsened and the food manufactur<strong>in</strong>g sector was estimated to be generat<strong>in</strong>g more than 8 million tonnes of food waste annually. A documentary <strong>in</strong> 1998 revealed tonnes of edible food be<strong>in</strong>g discarded at a Tesco store, provok<strong>in</strong>g a renewed response on the issue of food waste. WRAP was created <strong>in</strong> 2000 as a Government-funded, not-for-profit company that advises on how to reduce waste and use resources efficiently. In 2007, WRAP launched the ‘Love Food, Hate Waste’ campaign and returned food wa ste to the forefront of the news and public agenda. Two years later, the ‘Love Food, Hate Waste’ campaign claimed to have prevented 137,000 tonnes of food waste be<strong>in</strong>g sent to landfill and saved £300 million. Progress has been made, but there is still more to be done. The big difference today is that the <strong>in</strong>dustry possesses the technology to handle the process that much better and to be more effective <strong>in</strong> the way the production of food is managed. The counterargument is that this would h<strong>in</strong>der the creative flair of chefs and brigades, which is understandable. But surely it makes sense to maximise revenue and cost sav<strong>in</strong>gs if only by reduc<strong>in</strong>g food waste by 75% the 5% mentioned previously? Surely 18% is too high? This would not be tolerated <strong>in</strong> most discipl<strong>in</strong>es, so why is it with food? There’s is food that could have been eaten. This is the equivalent of 1.3bn meals, or one <strong>in</strong> six meals served a strong bus<strong>in</strong>ess, moral and ethical reason for change. We just all have roles to play. IS THIS JUST ANOTHER CAMPAIGN FOR THE SAKE OF IT? JUDGE THE FACTS FOR YOURSELVES: The cost of food waste to the UK hospitality sector will be £3bn by 2016. 920,000 tonnes of food is thrown away by the <strong>in</strong>dustry each year. Of this, 75% is food that could have been eaten. This is the equivalent of 1.3bn meals, or one <strong>in</strong> six meals served. On average, 18% of the food purchased is wasted at an average cost of £10,000 per outlet. The true cost of food waste is £2,800/tonne. epmagaz<strong>in</strong>e.co.uk | 45