Philip Simpson, commercial director at food waste recycler ReFood, comments on a London Evening Standard report of 2.9 million tonnes of food being wasted in the UK every year.
In September, the London Evening Standard published the findings of its latest national expose – The great food waste scandal.
With UK residents already experiencing the toughest cost of living crisis in more than 50 years, soaring interest rates, continued energy market volatility and sky-high mortgage rates, the investigation found that every year a staggering 2.9m tonnes of perfectly edible and avoidable food waste is being thrown away when millions are facing food poverty.
The mountain of crops that fail to leave the farm gate alone is said to be the equivalent of seven billion meals per annum.
This means that upwards of 9,600 square kilometres of farmland, almost half the landmass of Wales, is being used to grow crops that are never eaten.
If just a fraction of this produce could be better redistributed, it would be possible to feed countless families and prevent a wide range of negative environmental consequences.
The sheer scale of food waste in the UK is eye-opening.
While volumes have decreased significantly over the past decade thanks to proactivity from across the supply chain, it makes for unpleasant reading to see the latest figures in black and white.
While many consider food insecurity a challenge more commonly faced by third-world nations, it may surprise you to learn that it affects almost one in ten British households.
Knowing that people go to bed hungry every night while thousands of tonnes of perfectly edible food is unceremoniously thrown away is a difficult pill to swallow.
Clearly, the suggestion of an increased focus on redistribution is a sensible one.
Indeed, there are some outstanding organisations who are driving real change when it comes to connecting surplus food with hungry people.
More funding and collaboration is imperative to accelerate these programmes and it’s something that should be wholeheartedly supported – especially from a government perspective.
However, while the report raises some hard to hear truths, there’s an elephant in the room that needs clarifying – the expose’s condemnation of solutions within the food waste hierarchy, such as anaerobic digestion (AD), for the disposal of wasted food.
Now, while seeing edible food disposed of through such mechanisms should be prevented at all costs, their value in the food waste hierarchy shouldn’t be ignored.
After all, a world without waste – while the ultimate goal – is possibly unrealistic.
As such, we need to consider all options available and maximise the value in material that can’t be sold or redistributed.
We therefore need to invest heavily and focus on reducing waste wherever we can.
[W]aste that can’t be sold should be redistributed and eaten. If it can’t be redistributed, it should be repurposed as animal food.
Eliminating edible food waste should be our clear target.
However, what about the unavoidable fraction of waste?
The produce damaged in transit, the food that slips past its ‘use-by’ date, the shells and bones from hospitality businesses or the inedible byproducts of food manufacturing?
For waste that can’t be sold should be redistributed and eaten.
If it can’t be redistributed, it should be repurposed as animal food.
If it doesn’t meet stringent quality parameters, it should be used to generate renewable energy and biofertiliser via AD.
Landfill should always be seen as the last resort.
This is about harnessing value.
It’s true that inefficiencies within the supply chain is creating waste, but there’s a huge amount of work going on behind the scenes to address this.
Grocery retailers, for example, are leading the way when it comes to redistribution partnerships.
Logistics companies are spending millions every year to eliminate damage. ‘Zero waste’ restaurants are becoming ever-more popular as a beacon of best practice in the hospitality industry.
We shouldn’t, therefore, be too quick to judge investment into technologies and industries that recover the value in waste that would otherwise be left to rot in the ground.
Reducing waste in the first place and redistributing what we can’t should undoubtedly be prioritised, but we need to consider the wider impacts of unavoidable waste and invest in solutions to effectively manage it.
This is essential if we are to effectively tackle the UK’s food waste mountain – one step at a time.
Philip Simpson
Commercial Director
ReFood GmbH
