WRAP has published new guidance expanding the reach of the UK’s Food Waste Reduction Roadmap, providing growers with advice on how best to identify the causes of food surplus and waste, and help inform where action is needed.
As
startups
and food
giants
alike continue to innovate by putting already wasted food to use, the Waste
and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) continues to work to stop the waste
from happening in the first place.
Developed in collaboration with leading trade bodies and industry organizations,
WRAP’s new Food Waste Reduction Roadmap Grower
Guidance includes
two practical ‘how-to’ guides and dedicated tools for in-field measurement.
WRAP estimates that roughly 3.6 million tonnes of either wasted or surplus food
occurs on farms each year — equivalent to seven percent of the total food
harvest, and a potential £1.2 billion loss to the sector. A large percentage of
this can be attributed to fruits and vegetables being cut and trimmed to be
aesthetically ‘perfect’ for retail sale — studies
estimate
that these practices cause over 60 percent of all romaine and over 40 percent of
celery, just to name a few, to be wasted on US farms. The growing number of
companies making deliberate use of “ugly”
produce
is helping, but they’re likely barely making a dent in farms’ overall food waste
footprint.
“Our guides will show where action is needed on farm — whatever the scale of
production or crop type, and whether hand or machine-harvested,” says WRAP
Director Peter Maddox. “They are intuitive to use and set out the actions
necessary to measure consistently to make comparisons over time, and between
growers. I am delighted to have had the involvement of so many influential
sector bodies in developing these guides.”
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The resources were developed following calls from agricultural businesses for
practical guidance tailored to the needs of growers, and are free to download
and use from the WRAP website.
WRAP hopes the Roadmap Grower Guidance will encourage measuring to become a
common practice on farms, helping growers to increase productivity and realize
financial savings. And implementation of the new guidelines will provide
valuable data to improve understanding of surplus and waste on farm, and help
the UK to meet its 2025 Courtauld
Commitment
to Sustainable Development Goal
12.3.
Read more about WRAP’s Food Waste Reduction Roadmap Grower
Guidance
…
Published Mar 18, 2020 8am EDT / 5am PDT / 12pm GMT / 1pm CET
Sustainable Brands Staff