Imagine your shopping trolley holds 4.4 million whole apples, worth £317m a year; 5.1m whole potatoes, worth £302m a year; 2.8m tomatoes, worth £30m a year; 1.6m bananas, worth £90m annually; 1.4m mushrooms, worth £30 a year; 13.2m grapes, worth around £40m annually; and 1m plums, with a value of £70m a year.
Now imagine taking all this healthy, natural and, in many cases, perfectly edible, fresh produce, and throwing it into the nearest landfill site - on a daily basis.
These may seem astonishing statistics, but this is just the tip of the iceberg (no pun intended) of the full extent of the food wasted in this country each and every day, as revealed by a recent study conducted by the Defra-funded Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP). Believed to be the first of its kind anywhere in the world, the study involved a detailed survey and physical analysis of the rubbish of a representative sample of 2,715 households in England and Wales.
On May 8, WRAP’s research hit the national television and newspaper headlines, with shocking data indicating that in this country, we throw away around 6.7m tonnes, or one third, of all the food we buy - and 61 per cent, or 4.1m tonnes, of it is left unused, with 40 per cent of that figure untouched and at least a 10th, or 340,000t, still within its best before date parameters.
UK consumers are also guilty of cooking too much food, resulting in an additional 1.6mt a year of food waste. Fruit and vegetables are a particular issue, constituting nearly 40 per cent of what is thrown out in weight, and 25 per cent in value.
In cost terms, this constitutes on average £420 of food per household per year - £10 billion overall - that we pay for and do not eat, and add to that the £1 billion it costs local authorities to send the waste to landfill, and clearly a lot of cash is, quite literally, being thrown down the pan.
It goes without saying that food waste also has an environmental impact, and eating these 6.7mt rather than binning them could avoid 18mt of carbon dioxide being emitted annually.
So what can be done to stem this rising tide of wanton wastage? WRAP is certainly on the case, aiming to help individuals, businesses and local authorities reduce waste and recycle more, making better use of resources. The organisation also works with major retailers and brands, encouraging and supporting their efforts to reduce household waste. The Courtauld Commitment, brokered by WRAP in 2005, commits the 31 signatories to work towards reducing consumer food waste, as well as packaging. The group funds applied research to develop new ways of maintaining the freshness of food for longer, and works with local authorities and the waste industry to increase resource efficiency through home composting, food waste collections and effective re-processing of the food collected.
WRAP launched its Love Food, Hate Waste (LFHW) campaign last autumn in collaboration with the Scottish Waste Awareness Group and Waste Awareness Wales.
Julia Falcon, who works on the LFHW initiative, tells FPJ: “We felt there was an urgent requirement to reduce the amount of waste sent from the home to landfill. So we launched a consumer-facing campaign, to make it as simple as possible for people to make changes to their food habits.”
LFHW provides consumers with easy and practical ways to be more efficient with the food they buy, working with partners in retail, local authorities and community groups to deliver recipes, tips and ideas. “The activities on the LFHW website sound simple enough, but changing people’s habits is very tricky,” says Falcon.
However, there is mounting evidence that if consumers put their minds to it, they are able to make a difference. WRAP research shows that of 284 households who kept a week-long diary recording their food waste, 69 per cent were afterwards committed to reducing that figure, while Defra’s research on pro-environmental behaviour suggests that, from an environmental point of view, people are willing and able to reduce food waste.
“We are all trying to reduce our utility bills and our mortgages, but the amount of money wasted on food seems invisible to people,” says Falcon. “People are clearing out their fridges of perfectly good food. There are lots of messages out there in the media at the moment that we should be cutting down on our lifestyle habits, but the nice thing about LFHW is it’s fairly easy to do, and is a positive project - we are not telling people not to go on holiday.
“However, the danger is that because using up the food we buy makes so much sense, people might fail to notice when they are not doing it. We have got to make people aware of the issue, but without compelling them to change their habits - we don’t want any finger wagging.”
WRAP has received plenty of positive feedback from the campaign, according to Falcon, and the LFHW website has a whole section dedicated to participants leaving their own tips and suggestions. “The more input we get, the better it will be,” says Falcon. “So far the response has been positive, but we’ve got to keep up the momentum.
“The other challenge for us is that this is not a clunk click every trip idea - it is not a prescriptive project, as what works for one person may not work for another, depending on your situation. For example, if you have a busy working lifestyle, the weekly meal planner on the LFHW website will not be for you.”
WRAP’s exhaustive research has revealed that one of the major causes of food wastage is portion sizes, and the organisation is in talks with retailers to address the problem. “There is a growing number of single households that need to be taken into account,” says Falcon. “When we launched LFHW, we thought that the over-65s, who had been brought up during the war, were not wasting food, but we have since realised that every household, of any size, is incurring wastage, and it is really not much to do with lifestyle or age.
“Portion sizing affects the elderly in particular, and some retailers are looking at this with mini meals, and increasing the amount of loose produce they sell,” she adds.
Another huge part of the problem is the weekly shop, continues Falcon. “A quarter of the fruit and veg thrown out of UK households is done so within 24 hours of the weekly shop, meaning consumers are simply replacing old product with new, regardless of the quality of the older goods.”
So why is fruit and veg so particularly prone to being binned before it has even been sampled? WRAP was keen to find out why, and 12 months ago launched a fruit and vegetable storage project in conjunction with East Malling Research (EMR), Sainsbury’s and Mack Multiples, as well as some academic groups.
Andrew Parry, who works on WRAP’s retail team, tells FPJ: “We found out that people were not always storing produce in the best way. We carried out some consumer research, including an attitude questionnaire, a daily diary of fruit and vegetable purchases, transport, storage and waste over one week, and a spot-check audit of fridge contents.
“Then we held some experimental trials looking at different storage combinations for fruit and veg, including in and out of the fridge, in and out of packaging, etc, and then assessed the shelf life and moisture levels of the product afterwards. Then we conducted an audit of the five main retailers’ current advice on fruit and vegetable storage - and the bottom line was that while advice was given on most pre-packed produce, the retailers only gave storage advice on six to 19 per cent of loose produce. A lot of fruit is not stored in the fridge when it should be, and there is also a strong belief among consumers that you should take fruit out of packaging to store it, when in fact the opposite is true - the packaging on pre-packed products has been designed to extend shelf life.
“EMR found that even if you keep loose product inside the free plastic bag you get with it - tied loosely of course - it is beneficial to shelf life. That would make sense, as fridges are very dry places,” says Parry.
WRAP’s research led it to conclude that 1.2mt of fruit and vegetables that would benefit from being kept cool are in fact being stored at ambient temperatures.
The research proved to all parties involved that more information should be made available to consumers on how to keep fruit and veg at their optimum. “The summaries from this research, available on our website, have been sent to all the retailers, and another store is set to follow in Sainsbury’s footsteps very soon,” says Parry.
Alison Austin, head of brand policy and sustainability at Sainsbury’s, says: “In light of this research, Sainsbury’s is advising shoppers to store their loose fruit and vegetables in the fridge. We are tackling the task in two ways: showing shoppers how to keep their food fresher for longer, and then inspiring them to use it in lots of different ways.”
From April 7, shelf labels went into all Sainsbury’s stores reading ‘refrigerate for freshness’ (apart from on bananas and pineapples, which are unsuited to refrigeration). The retailer’s website now features precise storage advice for all the most popular fruits and vegetables, together with recipes tailored for produce that might be past its peak. And the Sainsbury’s Try Something New magazine features a new section, “3 ways with…”, offering recipe suggestions for fruit and veg in season.
Of course, the buck does not stop with the consumer, and it falls to the industry to reduce as much food waste as possible before it even gets to the shop floor. Israeli packaging specialist StePac’s post-harvest field team has, since 1995, been helping growers and suppliers reduce the amount of fresh produce discarded as waste, ensuring that a higher percentage of produce reaches its destination in top quality condition.
StePac’s proprietary Xtend modified atmosphere/modified humidity (MA/MH) bags and films - for both bulk and retail packaging - are engineered specifically for the fruit or vegetable they contain. Xtend MA/MH technology passively controls the atmosphere within the bag by engineering the polymer so that the correct balance between oxygen and carbon dioxide is maintained, while excess moisture is allowed to escape. This significantly prolongs produce storage time and shelf life, while helping to retain nutritional value, natural flavour and fresh appearance.
Over the years, StePac has developed a highly integrated approach to marketing its products and services. “We work closely with the companies that use our Xtend MA/MH packaging,” says Rowena Wagner, StePac’s UK commercial manager. “We have a wealth of post-harvest knowledge about best cooling, sanitising, storing and transporting procedures that we share with Xtend customers around the world. We help them obtain maximum packaging performance, which in turn means that less produce is lost in the supply chain.”
StePac’s ability to extend storage and shelf life for more than 50 types of fruit and vegetables often enables suppliers to choose to ship produce via land or sea, rather than to transport by air. “While not directly affecting waste reduction, this is an important contribution towards carbon neutral, sustainable supply chain practices,” says Wagner.
As this year’s cherry season begins, StePac is introducing Xtend heat seal film for cherries. A particularly sensitive fruit, cherries can be kept for over 14 days in cold storage (at 2°C), with another three days shelf life (at 10°C) in punnets lidded with Xtend. “Consumers who store these cherries in their refrigerators should find that they enjoy fresher, more flavoursome cherries, with fewer ending up in the dustbin,” adds Wagner.
The fresh produce industry is now tackling the food waste issue head on, and its involvement is set to grow even further. WRAP is looking to engage more with the fruit and veg sector. “The tragedy is that people are buying their 5 A DAY to be healthy, but are not always getting through it and are binning it,” says Falcon. “We would like to work with the industry to reduce this.”
Now the whole food supply chain, including fresh produce, will be able to work more closely with WRAP and benefit from its food waste knowledge. Until this year, WRAP’s government funding was focused 100 per cent on reducing household food and packaging waste, but since April, the organisation has been granted money to help take measures along the supply chain.
“We will be working with Envirowise [a government-supported organisation offering UK businesses free, independent, confidential advice and support on practical ways to increase profits, minimise waste and reduce environmental impact] and the Food and Drink Federation. It is very early days, but we will be looking at best practice across the industry,” says Parry.
“This means WRAP will develop a much more joined-up strategy, with retail, consumers and now the supply chain, and of course we also have our home composting campaign, and work with local authorities on collecting food waste.
“We want people in the industry to work out what food waste means for them, and we will be holding a series of category-specific workshops, including one on fruit and veg, with retailers, suppliers, packers and consultants. We hope to have the first workshop up and running by July,” adds Parry.
REDUCING WASTE IS JUST A BOWL OF PODS
One engineering company in Thetford, Norfolk, believes it has the answer to reducing food waste. Fresh Pod is a small green pod containing a sachet that extends the life of fruit and vegetables up to four times longer than normal.
Completely natural, safe and 100 per cent recyclable, the pod can be placed into refrigerators and fruit bowls. It works by absorbing ethylene gas, a natural substance given off by fresh produce as it ripens which causes fresh fruit and vegetables to rot prematurely. By removing this gas from the environment, the ageing and ripening process is slowed.
The Fresh Pod sachets also have the added benefit in that as well as controlling ethylene gas, research has proven they can also kill bacteria, viruses, fungi and moulds found in fridges.
The sachets last six months, after which time they need to be replaced. The contents of the sachets are recyclable and make a great fertiliser sprinkled on pot plants or in the garden when no longer of use in the fridge.
The technology behind Fresh Pod has been used commercially for more than 20 years, and is already being used in households worldwide. Fresh Pod Ltd has the distribution rights in the UK, and the green pod was designed and manufactured in Thetford.
John Newton, director and co-founder of Fresh Pod Ltd, says: “Fresh Pod is launching at a time when a considerable amount of money is being invested into educating the UK on food wastage. If we can get even a small percentage of the population popping a Fresh Pod or two in the fridge, then it will go a long way to helping reduce the greenhouse effect the wastage has on the environment.”
SOCIAL SOLUTION TO REDISTRIBUTE WASTE
FareShare, the UK charity that redistributes quality surplus food from the food industry, wants to develop its relationship with the fresh produce sector.
The charity works with a fresh produce supplier in Scotland and is keen for other companies to “give it a chance”, says Michael Hahn, business development manager for FareShare, which exhibited at this month’s Re:fresh Conference. “We’re involved with a number of retailers, including Sainsbury’s and Marks & Spencer, but we handle very little fresh produce direct from fruit and vegetable companies. It could be that some fruit and vegetables that are currently being thrown out as waste, going to the compost or being used as animal feed, could be consumed.”
According to FareShare’s 2008 National Impact Survey, 30 per cent of clients questioned said they never ate fruit and vegetables other than the ones at the charity’s centre.
FareShare, which estimates that 20,000 meals a day are prepared with food it has distributed, has ambitious plans.
It currently runs 10 depots and will open another in Manchester next month. “We’re offering a social solution to an environmental problem,” Hahn tells FPJ.
Other future plans include expanding its coverage and impact by increasing the number of local charities and disadvantaged people it serves. FareShare also wants to develop and expand its healthy living education and volunteering programmes.
“We’ve enjoyed dramatic growth since we launched in July 2004 and we’ve got lots of exciting plans, which we’ll announce in the coming months,” Hahn says.
MUDDY BOOTS MAKE A CLEAR CONSCIENCE
The issue of reducing food waste across the entire food industry is critically important, says Jonathan Evans, managing director at Muddy Boots Software. Consumers are increasingly aware of the social and environmental associations with the production of fresh produce. They are witnessing an increase in the price of food, and yet media stories communicate excessive food waste as product is being rejected for arguably ‘insignificant’ quality reasons.
Retailers and suppliers are beginning to respond. Food waste is not sustainable, and current levels sit uneasily with their social and sustainability agendas. Retailers have introduced their own supply base standards, which assess not only food safety but also food ethics. Reducing food waste not only demonstrates a responsible attitude, but for food producers, suppliers and retailers, it has a direct impact on profit. As a result, the reduction of food waste is high on their agendas, and we are seeing an increasing number of food producers investing in software from Muddy Boots for this purpose.
Muddy Boots understands that in order to combat the problem of food waste, it needs to be monitored at every point in the production process. Careful management of the growth of crops is at the heart of the process to ensure it meets the end use specification. By collecting up-to-date information on crops, including forecast yields and quality, it provides essential information for procurement teams to make informed decisions. Control is added to the system by managing the harvest and aligning the forecast output to projected demand and current sales orders. This reduces unnecessary harvest and transport costs, easing the pressure on factory intake and processing resources. These processes are important in managing waste throughout the supplier community, and form an essential backbone in Muddy Boots’ new generation of resource planning and management software.
Our Produce Manager software focuses on the entire food journey, from field dispatch to intake to the processing and management of raw material to final product specification.
Integrating information on these often disjointed processes provides improved visibility of the data and key performance elements that are likely to impact the production and delivery processes for all users at all stages - from suppliers’ field staff, procurement and sales teams to factory production and quality control staff.
Integrating directly with Produce Manager, Quickfire QMS provides robust and exacting control on quality management processes, ensuring that the final product meets customer specification in terms of product performance and shelf life through to packaging and final label. It gives the team total confidence that dispatched product is ‘fit for purpose’ and all assurances that incidences of product rejection or recall, which can result in significant cost and wastage, have been mitigated.
Effective management of raw material and processed stock flows can have a direct result on shelf-life performance by improving freshness. Stock rotation and qualitative information on the status of stock can have a direct impact on stock waste. Often quality control processes begin at factory intake, but in order to further drive out wastage, those processes should start at farm point, where harvest and early post-harvest activities can reduce waste and cost, ensuring that more product is transported that will meet intake requirements. By integrating the system with the grower community, Produce Manager and QMS can provide for more informed decision-making and improved workflow.
Produce Manager is being used by food suppliers all over the world. It has recently been implemented at Tripod Farmers in Bacchus Marsh, Australia. Supplier to Coles, Tripod Farmers is a grower and packer of premium baby leaf products. Produce Manager will support the company’s commitment to meeting demand, growing with the product and embracing worldwide trends, enabling the business to continue to expand its domestic and overseas trade.
Produce Manager is especially important for suppliers in emerging economies, where increasing transport costs are of great impact when product is rejected. For Homegrown and Vitacress in Kenya, for example, Produce Manager is integral to their fresh produce production processes. It enables procurement teams to establish crucial information on product quality, therefore aligning product with customer specifications and subsequently reducing the level of waste incurred in the harvest and production stages. It ensures that only quality product is shipped half way across the world.
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