Recycling has long been one of the measures that has been a focus of businesses and homes, but food waste and our relationship with it is something different. The volume of food waste generated in the retail supply chain, the hospitality sector, and in homes stood at 9.5m tonnes in 2018, down from 10m tonnes in 2015 and 11.2m in 2007, according to a detailed study from the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP).

Marcus Gover, chief executive of WRAP, said: “We are in a new decade and have just 10 years if we are to honour our international commitment to halve food waste.

A reduction of 4% in the supply chain suggests progress from businesses, but WRAP says they must step up their action on food waste to help meet the UN target of halving global food waste by 2030. In the retail sector, waste rose by 6% compared with three years earlier, and in the restaurant sector, it was up by 7%.

From a business perspective, there are things that can be done. A report on Covid-19 and Food Supply from the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, released on 30th July 2020, has called for the government to extend last year’s trial funding to “fund FareShare’s efforts to redistribute food from the farm gate to frontline community groups” in the aftermath of the crisis, going on to say that “food waste at a time of such critical need is particularly abhorrent.”

Last year FareShare received trial funding to offset the costs to growers and producers of getting surplus food onto people’s plates instead of sending it to anaerobic digestion or landfill. This resulted in 85% more fruit and vegetables reaching frontline charities and community groups.

So how has your relationship with food waste changed as a business or an individual during this pandemic? Let us know what your ideas are for reducing food waste across your business are. We should all be contributing towards climate change and to ending world hunger.