The food waste challenge is huge. According to World Resources Institute
(WRI), a third of all food produced in the world is still being lost or
wasted. This amounts to $940 billion in losses every year, contributing 8
percent of global greenhouse gases.
The COVID-19 pandemic
has accelerated the problem — with farm-level losses increasing thanks to
disruptions in the supply
chain
and many restaurants going out of business.
Even before COVID, food waste was a problem that has, quite rightly, demanded
its very own UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG). Target
12.3 asks
for a 50 percent reduction in food loss and waste worldwide by 2030. To achieve
it will demand a scaled up and consistent approach to make any real progress,
with multiple stakeholders all pulling in the same direction.
But halving food waste is absolutely doable.
That’s the message from the WRI-backed initiative known as
10x20x30,
which launched last month. Speaking at the virtual launch of its latest progress
report today, Liz Goodwin — WRI’s Director of Food Loss and Waste — said
that while the world is “woefully behind” in meeting the 2030
goal,
signs of progress give cause for hope.
“Sadly, COVID-19 has exacerbated the problem at every stage, with food thrown
away or not harvested because markets have collapsed. But there have also been
positive signs — with food waste falling by 34 percent since lockdown in the
UK, as people start to value their food more.”
More than ten of the biggest food producers and retailers are part of the
scheme, each asking at least 20 of their suppliers — including 200+ farmers,
processors and manufacturers — to commit to halving their food waste within the
next ten years. The companies are invited to use a ‘Target-Measure-Act’ approach
that was pioneered by Champions
12.3
— a voluntary coalition of execs from business and government who have rallied
in meeting target 12.3. It involves setting a food waste goal, assessing
progress regularly and taking action where necessary to reduce the ‘hotspots’ of
where food loss is happening.
It is something that the UK supermarket Tesco has been using successfully
since
2017.
Initially, it invited 27 of its suppliers to adopt the approach. Now, 71 of its
suppliers have published data on their food loss and waste. For Dave Lewis,
the company’s Group Chief Executive and Chair of Champions 12.3, the
‘Target-Measure-Act’ approach has been crucially important in pursuing food
waste and loss.
“It allows for consistent measurement across the world which, in turns, makes it
easier to share best practice and take actions we know will work,” Lewis said at
today’s virtual event. “It’s also striking that countries and companies that
have set climate change commitments are not integrating food waste into their
strategies — they should.”
It is an issue that the US retailer Walmart knows all too well. Speaking at the
launch event, Jane Ewing, SVP for Sustainability, was quick to point out
that food waste is very much a part of the company’s latest commitment to the
planet,
including a target to achieve zero emissions in its own operations by 2040.
“When food is wasted, so are resources and natural wildlife. Most of our food
waste happens upstream and downstream, so that’s why we’re excited to be a part
of 10x20x30.”
Another of the initiative’s ‘champions’ is Campbell’s
Soup, one of the
largest food-processing companies in the US. The firm has achieved a 36 percent
reduction in food loss and
waste
in the last three years alone; this started by setting the 12.3 target for its
own operations. It now repurposes ‘wasted’ food to make new items. For example,
in one of its subsidiaries, bread that would have gone to waste is sold to
another company to make breadcrumbs. Meanwhile, scraps and discards from
manufacturing are now diverted to make animal feed. In its potato-chip
production, waste food oil is recycled into
biofuels.
Today, more than ten big food businesses are part of the initiative — including
IKEA Food, Walmart, Carrefour, Kroger and METRO AG. The group
now includes six of the world’s largest supermarket chains, the world’s
second-largest food service provider; and some of the biggest retailers in
southern Africa, the Middle East and Japan.
Combined, the firms have a presence in more than 80 countries and will engage
more than 200 suppliers between them. The Walmart Foundation has invested money
to offer support, via WRI, with training and technical assistance on cutting
food waste.
But it’s not just businesses leading the charge. The Champions 12.3 group was
also keen to highlight the UK as a beacon of hope in making sure governments
play a big role.
Earlier this year, the UK Government said it had cut food waste by 27 percent
since it began measuring how much food was going to waste across the country
back in 2007. “We’ve had success in the UK because we know who is wasting food
and why – and we adopt a ‘test, learn and adapt’ model. We need to do more of
that,” says Marcus Gover, Chief Executive of WRAP.
Its public-private programme, known as the Courtauld
Commitment,
has been backed by most of the country’s big retailers and local authorities —
with companies voluntarily measuring their food loss and waste levels,
identifying solutions and reporting on progress. The ongoing Love Food Hate
Waste campaign has had similar success,
giving advice to households and raising awareness of the issue.
Long story short: While some nations and companies have made encouraging progress and crossed the
halfway mark towards meeting SDG 12.3, there’s still a long way to go.
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Content creator extraordinaire.
Tom is founder of storytelling strategy firm Narrative Matters — which helps organizations develop content that truly engages audiences around issues of global social, environmental and economic importance. He also provides strategic editorial insight and support to help organisations – from large corporates, to NGOs – build content strategies that focus on editorial that is accessible, shareable, intelligent and conversation-driving.
Published Sep 24, 2020 2pm EDT / 11am PDT / 7pm BST / 8pm CEST