Food retailers and producers from across the UK have signed up to a new food waste education initiative, ‘Working on Waste’, to reduce the amount of edible food their employers throw away at home.

Launched by food and grocery research and training charity the Institute of Grocery Distribution (IGD) in collaboration with the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP), the month-long campaign aims to disseminate the anti food waste message to employees, ‘driving awareness and engagement to take learnings beyond the workplace into households’.

Campaign details

The campaign is set to reach around 650,000 people employed by the 107 companies that have already signed up, through a range of co-ordinated industry activities that ‘will give employees and consumers insight into ways of reducing food waste in their home’.

During the month of October, IGD will be providing signatories with a mixture of food waste training and toolkits that will see:

• around 600,000 employees receiving tips on reducing household food waste;
• more than 12,000 employees involved in ‘Leftover Lunch Day’;
• around 180,000 employees being provided with access to Love Food Hate Waste meal planners;
• more than 100,000 employees using WRAP’s food waste diaries;
• 280,000 people participating in the ‘Leftovers Recipe Challenge’ and
• social media, digital, in-store and PR activity.

Further to this, IGD will also be hosting nine roundtable roadshows across the country, bringing companies, suppliers and competitors together to discuss the issues surrounding household food waste.

These will be held on:

• 10 October at Mars’ Slough office in SL1 4LG
• 14 October at William Jackson Food Group in Hull, HU3 2HQ
• 16 October at Premier Foods’ office in Worksop, S81 7AY
• 22 October at Nestlé in Newcastle upon Tyne, NE3 3TR
• 24 October at the Compass Group in Reading, RG2 0FL
• 28 October at Waitrose’s Head Office in London, SW1E 5NN
• 29 October at The Co-operative’s headquarters in Manchester, M60 0AG.

The findings from these roadshows, along with further consultations with other key stakeholders, will be used to inform an IGD Thought Leadership paper to be published in spring 2015.

The campaign is also being supported by other organisations such as universities and trade associations.

‘Inspiring employees to inform friends and family on how to reduce food waste’

Launching the Working on Waste campaign, Joanne Denney-Finch, Chief Executive of IGD, said: “A lot of progress has been made already by companies across the industry to help consumers reduce household food waste. However, seven million tonnes of food and drink is still being thrown away by UK homes every year, costing consumers £12.5 billion – so there’s more work to be done.

“As an industry, we employ 3.6 million people and it is these employees that will form the bedrock of our campaign, taking learnings from their company into their households. In its first year, from the 107 companies that have pledged their support so far, Working on Waste will reach around 650,000 employees in one month through meal planning advice, top tips, what to do with leftovers and much more. And if we can inspire each of these employees to inform their friends and family on how to reduce food waste, the campaign’s impact will be felt far beyond this number.”

She added that the roadshows are ‘pivotal’ to the campaign as they will help explore “all the ways in which the industry can work together in this area”.

She added: “I’m thrilled that companies of all sizes are supporting this campaign, demonstrating how serious they are about tackling food waste in homes. Through this scale, collaboration and power of our industry, we have the potential to make a substantial impact collectively in reducing household food waste in the UK.”

Dr Richard Swannell, Director at WRAP, added: “Putting the issue of tackling food waste right at the heart of the food industry has led to a significant reduction in what we waste, but there is still 4.2 million tonnes of edible food being thrown away from UK homes alone.

“This campaign is a great opportunity to further mobilise action by those who work in the sector, which is good for their pockets and the environment.”

Find out more about Working on Waste or the problem of food waste.