Resources

This report from WRAP and the University of Leeds builds on previous research to provide a quantitative assessment of possible policy interventions to reduce resource consumption and green house gas emissions associated with their production.

During the current Cost of Living challenges, WRAP’s Guardians of Grub campaign shows Hospitality and Food Service sector operators how to reduce costs and their impact on the planet by reducing wasted food. This webinar highlights the free resources that businesses can use to tackle food waste, including information posters, how-to guides, and a free calculator to record the changes being made.

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.

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.

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.

WRAP’s Scope 3 Protocols for Food and Drink businesses are being updated

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This Implementation Resource has been created to supplement WRAP’s Guidance on Labelling for Redistribution (the Guidance), which outlines how long different foods can be expected to be suitable for redistribution after the ‘Best Before’ date, the associated date labelling and storage instructions and the processes required by food businesses and redistribution organisations within the UK to ensure that surplus food is safely redistributed.

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.

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.

Ground-breaking research into the relationship between plastic packaging and five fruit and vegetable items frequently wasted at home, as well as the impact of date labels and storage temperatures, reveals significant opportunities to reduce both food waste and plastic packaging.

It’s an exciting time to be part of the Courtauld Commitment 2030. With COP26 fresh in the memory, climate change a daily item in the news agenda, and with a growing number of other challenges to food security and supply, the work we are doing together to fix the food system has never been more vital, or more urgent. The new and ambitious Courtauld 2030 targets are firing up our signatories as never before to take collaborative action and Target, Measure and Act on the sustainability issues that matter most to the food and drink sector, and that will have the greatest impact to mitigate the worst effects of climate change.

Learn about the attitudes and behaviours around plastics, packaging, instore refill and bring-back recycling. The research has been co-funded by UK Research and Innovation.