Sustainable Food Supply: Leadership Strategies to Combat Food Waste
According to the ‘Love Food, Hate Waste’ campaign, each year in the UK we throw away [1]:• Over 5 million whole potatoes• 1 million loaves of bread• 520,000 unused tea bags• 1 million slices of ham• Over 4 million WHOLE apples• Over 1 million yoghurts and yoghurt drinks• 440,000 homemade and ready made meals
Group Members: Martin Dunn, Lauren Martin, Maria del Mar Fernandez Martinez-Rey, Laura Negus, Jayson Tanega
The aim of this ePoster is to raise awareness about food waste. We will show why food waste has become such an important topic and how leaders in three different sectors are attempting to minimise food waste and its consequences. Our analysis of the problem will focus on the government’s reaction, a large food retailer’s reaction (The Co-Operative Group) and small businesses’ reactions. We will subsequently show YOU how to make a difference and suggest what more needs to be done by key leaders.
Contents1.Context – Why does food waste matter?2.The Government: a crucial leader3.What is Manchester doing?4.The Co-Operative Group: an ethically guided retailer5.Small leadership: small changes that make big differe
nces6.Leaders should be doing more…7.Food Waste Reduction: What YOU can do8.References (1 of 2)9.References (2 of 2)
When carrying out a small survey of the University of Manchester students, we found that 80% thought that they wasted too much food. [2] So what can we do?
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Energy costsIt is now widely accepted that ‘food consumption is one of the most polluting everyday activities’ [1]. Modern food consumption demands energy-intensive processes to provide our food. Furthermore, a study conducted in 2000 estimated that the food industry accounted for 10% of all energy use in the USA, [2] and later in subsequent studies it was estimated that the entire food cycle needs 10 calories of energy to produce 1 calorie of food [3]. At every stage of the food cycle energy is needed. This diagram shows the most energy intensive parts of the food cycle.
Context: Why does food waste matter?
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It is clear to see that food production has an enormously detrimental effect on the environment. What is more, the planet’s demand for food increases by the day. According to UN population data [5], the global population will increase by 2.6 billion between 2005 and 2050, and all of these people will need food. We believe better management of our food supply can help to alleviate the consequences of food production. We must become more efficient consumers of food and thus reduce our waste. The following slides will show you how the problem of food wastage is currently being tackled.
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•In the UK, we are throwing away one third of the food we buy. We throw away 6.7 million tonnes of food each year, when most of this food could have been eaten (it’s not just peelings and bones– it’s good food!). We throw food out for three main reasons: food gets forgotten and is left unused, we serve up too much, and we don’t use leftovers. [6]•If these figures aren’t depressing enough, household food waste is less than half of total food waste: the rest comes from the industry (supermarkets and food producers). According to WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme), each year retailers in the UK produce 1.6 million tonnes of food waste. Producers- farmers and factories- create another 5.8 million tonnes. Individuals within WRAP say these figures may even be underestimates. [7]
What are the consequences?•Most of the wasted food reaches landfill sites where it emits methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, as well as being an eyesore.•High economic cost – at least £10bn worth of food that could have been eaten is thrown away every year. [6]•Money is spent on wasting food. In a world where nearly a billion people [8] are starving, surely this is fundamentally wrong?
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"If we are to get food prices down, we must do more to deal with unnecessary demand, such as by all of us doing more to cut our food waste which is costing the average household in Britain around £8 per week"Gordon Brown, on the plane to the G8 summit in 2008.At the summit, the Prime Minister argued that it was the responsibility of rich nations to do more to tackle the crisis and to help poorer nations. [1]
The Government: A Crucial Leader
Actions taken:In addition to press advertising and a supporting PR campaign that features celebrity chefs, home economists and well known personalities, the ‘Love Food, Hate Waste’ campaign features a website: www.lovefoodhatewaste.com which gives advice, ideas on preparation, storage, portioning and recipes.
The campaign has a strong emphasis of the benefits of not wasting food in terms of finance. For example, the website has a whole section dedicated to ‘Save Time and Money’.
The campaign uses well-known TV chefs such as Ainsley Harriott so that people are more likely to pay attention to the campaign.
The website has a section dedicated to allowing members of the public to add their voice to the campaign. This encourages participation and makes people’s actions feel valued as their opinions and advice is considered. [4]
WRAP- Waste & Resources Action ProgrammeA government programme committed to encouraging the efficient use of resources in the UK. The programme works with local authorities, business and households and one of its key aims is to prevent waste. [2]
‘Love Food, Hate Waste’A campaign launched in 2008 by WRAP. The campaign focuses on behavioural change. Firstly, it influences people to reassess their attitude to food by raising awareness of the need to reduce the amount of food waste. Secondly, it encourages individuals to make small changes that will contribute to solving the problem by providing practical solutions for people to get the most from the food they buy and waste less of it.
The campaign is fully supported by the Women's Institute, which decided to launch its own campaign in collaboration. The project 'Love Food Champions' hopes to provide 'on the ground support on how to minimise food waste across the UK‘ by organising groups where people can meet up, share ideas and learn how to reduce their food waste. [5]
FISS- Food Industry Sustainability StrategyThis strategy will help the Food Industry contribute to the UK’s sustainability goal. The strategy comes under the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (defra). [3] It was published in May 2006 and can be accessed here: http://www.defra.gov.uk/foodfarm/policy/foodindustry/index.htm
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The ‘Love Food, Hate Waste’ campaign in Manchester
The Campaign was launched in Manchester on 22nd April, 2009, at the Palace Hotel, Oxford Road. Celebrity chef Andrew Nutter gave a demonstration of how to create various dishes. [4]
The campaign was the main sponsor of the Manchester Food & Drink Festival (MFDF) 2009. To celebrate the partnership between MFDF and the campaign, a Love Food, Hate Waste Award was created, as an addition to the other well-established MFDF Awards. The Award was open to restaurants, market traders and individuals, and the winner was chosen based on their amount of food waste reduction, planning, innovation, community engagement and sustainability, amongst other categories. [5]
36% of people treat the 'best before' dates on food as they would 'use by' dates!
53% of people would never eat fruit or vegetables once it has gone past the 'best before’ date
84% of people do not acknowledge how much food they throw away.
For more information, please visit: www.recycleforgreatermanchester.com [2]
What is Manchester doing?
Manchester Council: What can they do and what will they do?Taken from the Council website this is how they describe their attitude towards recycling food waste…“Across Greater Manchester your waste will be treated and processed in a revolutionary way. 1.3 million Tonnes of waste will be handled each year, and we will be building on the past success of Greater Manchester which has seen a rise from 7% recycling in 2002/2003 to now over 30%!”Manchester Council are looking to increase this number further and are aiming to recycle 50% of all waste by 2015. They describe it as a ‘world class solution’ for Greater Manchester's 973,000 households (AGMA, 2009). [3]
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