Resources
Reducing household food waste through changes to the retail environment.
- Food and drink
- Reducing and preventing food waste
- Courtauld Commitment
- Food date labelling
- Household food waste
- UN SDG 12.3
- Consumer behaviour
- Retailers and brands
The potential impact of increasing online resale of products
The Benefits of Reuse project was originally created in 2011 by WRAP to estimate economic, environmental and social indicators for re-use, for the first time.
Our latest report conducted on behalf of eBay explores the potential role of reuse in helping people across the UK in the current cost-of-living crisis, and considers the potential environmental and economic benefits to households of buying second hand items through online exchange.
- Re-use
- Manufacturers
- Retailers and brands
- Textiles sourcers, producers and designers
We need to radically transform our relationship with single-use plastic packaging and a key part of this will be the move to reuse and refill for many everyday items we purchase.
Our latest report and research explores citizen behaviours around reuse and refill. In partnership with Asda and Unilever, we shadowed research participants across the whole of their shopping journey. From pre-shop preparation to instore experience, we evaluated how our trial participants interacted with refill zones and developed and tested a series of instore behaviour change interventions. All designed to improve the reuse and refill shopping experience for our participants.
- Plastic Packaging
- Eliminating problem plastics
- The UK Plastics Pact
- Plastic packaging design
- Global Plastics Pacts
- Reuse and refill
- Film and flexible packaging
- Reducing and preventing food waste
- Hospitality and food service
- Retailers and brands
- Trade associations
- National government and departments
- Non-governmental organisations
In autumn 2021, WRAP commissioned two large scale pieces of online consumer research on the life expectancy of different items of clothing in UK wardrobes and the UK’s appetite for adopting new models of clothing acquisition – some of which discard the notion of owning clothes all together.
- Textiles
- Consumer behaviour
- Textiles 2030
- Retailers and brands
- Textiles sourcers, producers and designers
This research summary report shows the joint research undertaken regarding food loss and waste across four key markets - UK, US, Canada and Australia. The study found that nearly half of respondents throw away as much food or more than they did this time last year revealing an opportunity for consumers to save more by reducing waste in their homes.
- Food and drink
- Reducing and preventing food waste
- Measuring and reporting food waste
- Hospitality and food service
- Retailers and brands
Non-mechanical recycling has the potential to significantly increase the UK’s recycling rates, enable recycled content to be used back in packaging and divert valuable resources from landfill and incineration. Working alongside traditional mechanical recycling, it will have a big impact towards the redesign of our plastics system in the UK and our vision of a circular economy for plastics.
This paper sets out the WRAP’s position on the use of non-mechanical recycling technologies and how it must be effectively utilised to support the transition towards a circular economy for plastics in the UK.
- Plastic Packaging
- The UK Plastics Pact
- Plastic packaging design
- Global Plastics Pacts
- Film and flexible packaging
- Waste management and end markets
- Manufacturers
- Retailers and brands
- Waste management and reprocessors
- Local Authorities
- Packaging producers
- Trade associations
- National government and departments
- Non-governmental organisations
To meet the Courtauld Commitment 2030 food waste target and UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12.3, collaborative and concerted efforts to reduce food waste are required. Redistributing surplus food is one of the best ways that businesses can help to reduce the amount of food that ends up as waste.
- Food and drink
- Reducing and preventing food waste
- Surplus food redistribution
- Courtauld Commitment
- Food Waste Reduction Roadmap
- Guardians of Grub
- UN SDG 12.3
- Farmers and growers
- Hospitality and food service
- Manufacturers
- Retailers and brands
- Trade associations
- National government and departments
The Resource Action Fund (RAF) was an £18 million fund, provided by Defra to support resource efficiency projects, with the goal of diverting, reducing, and better managing waste. The funding supported organisations in England which aimed to reduce waste and make better use of materials.
- Food and drink
- Reducing and preventing food waste
- Surplus food redistribution
- Courtauld Commitment
- Food Waste Reduction Roadmap
- Funding
- Consumer behaviour
- Farmers and growers
- Hospitality and food service
- Manufacturers
- Retailers and brands
- National government and departments
- Non-governmental organisations
The Resource Action Fund (RAF) was an £18 million fund, provided by Defra to support resource efficiency projects, with the goal of diverting, reducing, and better managing waste.
- Plastic Packaging
- Food and drink
- Funding
- Textiles
- Manufacturers
- Retailers and brands
- Textiles sourcers, producers and designers
- Waste management and reprocessors
- Packaging producers
- National government and departments
- Non-governmental organisations
This report summarises the methods and findings of a project to understand the impacts of enhanced material sampling on facilities that receive recyclables.
- Collections & recycling
- Collections and sorting
- Kerbside collection
- Material Recovery Facilities
- Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)
- Retailers and brands
- Waste management and reprocessors
- Local Authorities
- Packaging producers
- Trade associations
- National government and departments
This report is the latest in our bi-annual surveys of UK households and gathers evidence on food waste attitudes, knowledge, and behaviour. It is the largest and longest running series of its kind, having been undertaken by WRAP since 2007.
- Food and drink
- Reducing and preventing food waste
- Household food waste
- UN SDG 12.3
- Retailers and brands
The research looked at:
- If packaging extends the shelf life of fruit and vegetables;
- If selling items loose enables households to buy an appropriate amount for their needs; and
- How people make decisions about when to throw away fruit and vegetables, and what role does a ‘Best Before’ date have on these decisions.
- Eliminating problem plastics
- The UK Plastics Pact
- Food and drink
- Reducing and preventing food waste
- Courtauld Commitment
- Food Waste Reduction Roadmap
- Food date labelling
- Fresh produce sector
- Manufacturers
- Retailers and brands
- Packaging producers
- Trade associations
- National government and departments
- Non-governmental organisations