UK grocers commit to halving food waste by 2030

Large supermarkets and manufacturers are committing to reduce the annual £20bn food waste bill in half by 2030.

A roadmap published on Tuesday by the government’s waste reduction body, Wrap, believes that waste reduction should come from every part of the supply chain from "farm to fork".

The voluntary scheme aims to meet the UN's sustainable development target (specifically target 12.3) of halving per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer level and throughout production and supply chains by 2030.

The first step is to ensure that by 2019 all major UK retailers, large producers and suppliers, measure, report and act on food waste. By 2026, all large food businesses should have in place a target to cut waste from their operations.

Tesco will be one of the major supermarkets to commit to the plan and ten of Tesco’s branded suppliers including Coca-Cola, Mars, Nestlé and Unilever will also commit to the project within the next 12 months.

At a New York event organised by Champions 12.3, a coalition of governments, businesses and international organisations committed to accelerating progress toward the 12.3 goal will say: "Every year, a third of the world’s food goes to waste – that’s the equivalent of 1.3bn tonnes of food being thrown away – and we think that’s simply not right. We believe that what gets measured gets managed."

Clare Oxborrow, a senior food and farming campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said: "All companies along the supply chain should publicise their food waste data and commit to concerted long-term action, so that food waste is halved by 2030, as set out in the sustainable development goals."