29 September 2023
Today is the fourth International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste (IDAFLW). So, it seems only fitting to not only raise awareness of the massive global issue of food waste, but also to highlight some of the amazing action that WRAP and our international partners are taking to tackle consumer food waste around the world.
About one third of the food produced in the world goes uneaten every year1, and of this, we know that more than half a billion tonnes of food waste comes from households2. Food loss and waste is contributing to climate change, with around 8- 10% of greenhouse gas emissions3 associated with the growing, producing, shipping, cooking and ultimately throwing away of food that is not consumed. What’s more, we’re also living in a time where hunger is an increasingly pressing concern in the UK and continues to be so globally. Wasting good food is unacceptable on so many levels.
At WRAP, we have been tackling consumer food waste since 2007, developing nationally relevant campaigns, trialling behaviour change interventions, and spearheading pioneering research. To reach consumers, we developed and launched Love Food Hate Waste (LFHW), a national brand designed to radically reduce household food waste. LFHW’s most recent national campaign reached over 8 million people in the UK and of those people who saw the campaign, 5 million changed their behaviour to make their food go further. This is testament to the success of the campaign and increasing awareness of LFHW and the activity that it undertakes to change citizen behaviours around food waste.
Recognising that food waste is not just a UK issue, over the past few years we have collaborated with partners across the world to introduce the campaign on a global stage. During Food Waste Action Week this year we saw support from at least 167 organisations across 12 countries.
Licensing the Love Food Hate Waste brand across the globe
Building on lessons and best practice from the UK, in 2016 we began to license the LFHW brand to organisations in other countries, establishing an international network of LFHW licensees. We now license LFHW in eight different countries - Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, Hungary, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Scotland and Slovakia and you can see some of the amazing work that is being delivered in our new case studies for LFHW Canada and LFHW Scotland.
WRAP now licenses LFHW in eight different countries
At the moment, LFHW Scotland is running their "CAN-paign" which emphasizes the cost and waste-saving benefits of canned foods. And, over in Canada they recently launched a new campaign moment called “It’s a Labour of Love” which is focussed on driving awareness of the hard work, energy and resources that go into growing, producing and transporting food and the waste of all of these when the food is binned – their brilliant campaign is educating citizens on correct storage of fresh produce to help to keep it fresher for longer.
Our friends over at LFHW New Zealand have been undertaking some fabulous partnership activity recently; working with Misfit Garden (a veg box subscription scheme that makes use of surplus and wonky produce direct from growers) to provide some innovative and unusual recipe ideas and sharing reels on social media. They’ve also been spreading the CAN-paign love, making use of the Scottish assets and crediting LFHW Scotland – this is such a wonderful example of how our LFHW licensees work collaboratively and share resources for the greater good.
WRAP brings together food waste prevention experts from around the world
WRAP also facilitates regular network meetings where we bring together food waste prevention experts to share ideas, campaigns, experiences, expertise and knowledge. As well as learning from each other we regularly welcome guest speakers who provide the latest insights and research, ensuring that we’re all kept up to date on the latest thinking, and helping the whole network to maximise the impact of their campaigns.
We’re hugely proud of the inclusive, energetic and collaborative hub that we have created and the opportunity that we have provided for this group of really passionate and driven individuals to work together. We get such a buzz when we see our licensees all working together to deliver Food Waste Action Week or sharing campaign resources across countries to deliver bigger impact.
If you would like to learn more about our International LFHW Network or collaborate with us to tackle consumer food waste, please get in touch.
1 Food Loss and Waste Reduction | United Nations
2 UNEP Food Waste Index Report 2021 | UNEP - UN Environment Programme
3 Special Report on Climate Change and Land — IPCC site