Grocery sector ahead of target under Courtauld

WRAP has reported a ‘considerable reduction’ in grocery sector supply chain waste to date under phase two of the voluntry Courtauld Commitment.

But, there is understood to be disagreement among stakeholders over exactly what new goals need to be set once the commitment comes to an end this year before Courtauld 3 can be finalised.

Phase 2 of the Courtauld Commitment runs from 2010 to 2012 and requires signatories to reduce food and drink waste by 4%; reduce grocery product and packaging supply chain waste by 5% and reduce the carbon impact of grocery packaging by 10%.

Forty-two retailers, brands and suppliers have signed up to meet these targets, including the likes of Tesco, Mars and Unilever.

Reporting on progress for the first two years of the agreement, WRAP said that signatories were well ahead of their target to reduce supply chain waste by 5%, cutting this by 8.8%. Supply chain waste reduction was added to the voluntary agreement in Phase 2 and has been an area of focus for WRAP and signatories over the past year, following limited progress in 2010 (see letsrecycle.com story).

The packaging target is also on course, at more than three quarters of the way towards the target 10% carbon reduction. Meanwhile, household food waste data is not collected yearly but a 3% reduction was achieved in the first year against the 4% target (see table).

Results

Dr Richard Swannell, director of design & waste prevention at WRAP, said: These are good results and indicative of the hard work that signatories have been putting in to be more resource efficient, benefiting of the environment and their bottom line.

The progress was welcomed by Lord de Mauley, Resource Management Minister. He said: Im pleased that more and more businesses are realising that reducing waste and packaging throughout their supply chain is not only good for the environment but good for their bottom line too.

Courtauld 3

Looking forward, WRAP said that it was currently working with Defra, the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland governments and current Courtauld signatories and trade bodies, to determine the best way to build on the progress of Courtauld 2. It said: The agreed outcome will aim to build on the significant progress delivered so far for both phases of the voluntary agreement.

It is expected that, when agreed, Courtauld 3 will focus on improving the environmental performance of grocery and home improvement products as well as the associated packaging waste.

However, some in the retail sector have told letsrecycle.com that, as time goes, by, it is becoming more difficult to reach agreement on new targets under Courtauld and on how performance should be measured without creating excess costs for businesses.

And, they claim the agreement is merely mirroring the natural direction of travel of the grocery sector and is not ambitious enough for some.

One retailer said: Some of the targets, such as reducing the environmental impact of packaging, are just smoke and mirrors. Signatories can demonstrate improvement on this in any number of ways. The targets are not robust enough or clear enough to make any meaningful difference.

Another retailer said that there was a plethora of targets and ambitions for us to meet and explained that some in the sector were well ahead of Courtauld 2 and looking beyond the programme.