Leading UK Food and Consumer Goods Companies Prevent 125,000 Tons of Waste
An IGD-led initiative has prevented 125,000t of food supply chain waste since 2010 – enough to fill 65 Olympic swimming pools. The project has met its target for 2013 and is on track to prevent 200,000t of supply chain waste by the end of next year.
IGD has brought together 34 companies through an initiative to tackle the issues of waste at source and to find practical ways in which companies can work together to prevent waste occurring in the first place.
Six in ten (61%) shoppers believe food and grocery companies should be doing the right thing on the environment, and 87% expect the industry to be constantly checking supply chains to ensure they are acting responsibly.
Joanne Denney-Finch, chief executive of IGD, comments: “We know shoppers want to waste less and expect our industry to do more to tackle waste in the supply chain, so we’re bringing the industry together to share best practice and find innovative solutions for all. The most effective way of reducing waste is to prevent it from happening in the first place. We’re encouraging businesses to prevent waste through planning better, designing products and packaging differently, and working together to improve forecasting and processes.”
She adds: “The leaders of the food and consumer goods industry in the UK have identified waste as a top priority. As a result, IGD is intending to do even more in this area and I would encourage all food and consumer goods companies to get in touch and join us to make a bigger difference.”
To drive further progress towards the ambitious waste prevention target, IGD’s ECR (Efficient Consumer Response) UK working group has launched a new online guide at www.igd.com/wasteprevention.
Karl Donnan, customer service director, Unilever UK & Ireland, and ECR UK Product & Packaging Waste Workgroup co-chair, says: “It’s great to see the continued and increasing engagement from manufacturers and retailers alike. Collaboration is helping to reduce and redistribute thousands of tonnes of food waste and the new tools being made available on IGD’s website should help us increase the momentum further in 2014.”
