The Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) has helped develop a new document that aims to help governments, local authorities, and businessesdevelop ‘effective food waste prevention programmes’.

The ‘Think.Eat.Save Guidance Version 1.0’ document – released today (23 May) by WRAP, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) – forms part of the SAVE FOOD Initiative and FAO-UNEP Sustainable Food Systems Programme and the Think.Eat.Save. Reduce Your Foodprint campaign.

It aims to help deliver better food systems and ‘sustainable consumption and production approaches’ to reduce the amount of food wasted globally (estimated to be around 1.3 billion tonnes a year), thus saving resources, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and cutting costs.

Version 1.0 details

The guidance aims to offer users the ‘full journey’ in countering food waste, from understanding the depth of the problem, to communicating ways of reducing it.

Made up of four modules, the guidance allows users to:

• audit food and drink waste;
• see an overview of the mechanisms that can influence food waste (such as legislative and fiscal measures);
• develop and implement programmes to prevent and reduce household food and drink waste (through consumer campaigns and packaging labelling); and
• work up plans to reduce food and drink waste within the business supply chain.

It has been named ‘Version 1.0’ as the document will be ‘enriched progressively’ as more countries and businesses utilise it. As such, UNEP is recruiting pilot countries and cities without existing frameworks for food waste prevention to test the guidance over the coming years. They will also receive technical and strategic support whilst running the food waste prevention programmes.

It is also thought the guidance will evolve with the development of the World Resources Institute’s (WRI) Food Loss & Waste Protocol for food waste measurement.

‘First-of-its-kind guidance document on food waste prevention’

Speaking of the document, UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner, said: “Food waste carries direct economic and environmental costs and depletes the natural resource base that underpins food production.

“Today, diets are becoming more resource-intensive, and the way we buy and consume food is changing due to industrialisation, the demands of a growing middle class, and the continued impacts of the economic crisis.

“This first-of-its-kind guidance document on food waste preventionprovides the technical expertise and impetus needed for a wide range of actors to take advantage of existing wisdom, catalyse action, and get a head start in tackling this critical issue.”

Dr Liz Goodwin, CEO of WRAP, added: “We’re delighted to see this guidance version 1.0 being published today, and to have had the opportunity to work in collaboration with UNEP and FAO to develop it.

“Our work has helped consumers and businesses take significant strides to prevent and reduce their food waste in the UK. We hope that by assembling guidance and best practice from around the world it will encourage more action to tackle this crucial global issue."

Read the‘Think.Eat.Save Guidance Version 1.0’ document.