Press releases

WRAP’s new and ambitious ‘FLAWLESS’ food waste reduction partnership project has been awarded US $826,000/c.£677,000 in scale-up funding by the Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals 2030 (P4G) initiative.

WRAP is pleased to announce that it has widened the scope of the £6.5 million Wales Circular Economy Fund. The fund was introduced in April 2019 to support the use of recycled materials by manufacturers in Wales. It can now also support preparation for re-use, refurbishment and re-manufacturing activities in Wales. This includes the production of sustainable goods to aid the global fight against coronavirus, such as Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).

• New guidance urges more businesses, redistribution organisations and charities to look beyond the Best Before date.
• No food surplus should go to waste, and redistribution should include more good quality food beyond the Best Before, says WRAP.
• If stored correctly, food can be eaten days (e.g. bread), weeks (e.g. apples and crisps), months (e.g. biscuits and cereals) or even years (e.g. dried pasta and canned food) after the Best Before date.

New guidance expanding the reach of the UK’s Food Waste Reduction Roadmap is published today, providing growers with advice on how best to measure food surplus and waste on farm to identify the causes; and help inform where action is needed.

The first regional Plastics Pact – the European Plastics Pact – has launched today in Brussels.

• WRAP, which leads The UK Plastics Pact, launches new citizen awareness campaign on plastics packaging             
• ‘Clear on Plastics’ will share the latest insights on complex subjects such as plastic alternatives and bioplastics

• Compostable plastics could be particularly useful for flexible packaging which contains food residue
• Rigid compostable plastic packaging, e.g. cups, generally only beneficial in a ‘closed’ system like an event
• Compostable plastics should be avoided where there is potential for them to contaminate conventional plastics recycling
• Clear labelling for citizens on their disposal is crucial

TRiFOCAL, the project encouraging sustainable food behaviours in London, has announced its results as the three-year initiative comes to an end. The project helped citizens in six London boroughs reduce the amount of good food thrown away by 9% between spring 2017 and spring 2019

• New data shows almost half a million tonne reduction in total UK food waste in just three years – enough to fill the Royal Albert Hall ten times.
• Reducing food waste has saved citizens over £1 billion per year compared to 2015.
• WRAP calls for further action to reduce food waste to help tackle climate change.

The latest data from Sustainable Clothing Action Plan 2020 (SCAP 2020) commitment signatories, published today, show that improvements in design and manufacture continue to have a positive effect in making our clothes in a more sustainable fashion. However, WRAP’s Textiles Market Situation Report also shows that more items are being disposed of in the residual bin, meaning more end up in landfill or incineration.