UK: New phase of Courtauld Commitment targets a further 1.1 million tonnes waste reduction

The grocery sector continues to show its commitment to reducing food and drink waste as 45 signatories have joined the third phase of the Courtauld Commitment. Signatories including all major grocery retailers, and many household brands and manufacturers, could reduce waste by 1.1 million tonnes by 2015, bringing £1.6 billion cost benefits to consumers and industry.
Significant achievements were made on optimising grocery packaging under Courtauld 1 and the first two years of Courtauld 2. Adding up achievements under both agreements to date indicates that around 1 million tonnes less packaging have been used. There are now limited opportunities for more substantial reductions in packaging without risking increases in waste.
The focus now is to optimise packaging to reduce food waste and improve recyclability to help consumers and local authorities, while ensuring no increase in the carbon impact against a back drop of increasing sales volume. The target will also help achieve the UK Governments’ ambitious new packaging recycling targets for 2013 - 2017.
The Courtauld Commitment has a history of achieving change. To date, 2.3 million tonnes of waste has successfully been prevented by the Courtauld signatories and consumers during the first two phases of the Commitment. The value of waste prevented is around £3.5bn. The final results of Courtauld Commitment 2 will be announced later this year (News Item WRAP, 9 May 2013).