More effort needed to segregate food sector waste

The food and drink sector must put more effort into segregating mixed food and packaging waste in order to boost recycling rates, according to the findings of a survey carried out by the Food and Drink Federation (FDF).

A report on the survey findings published jointly by the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) and FDF today (February 27), notes the good progress being made by the sector towards meeting the target of sending zero food and packaging waste to landfill by 2015 at the latest.

The results suggest that of the 138,836 tonnes of waste generated in 2012 at the 84 FDF member manufacturing sites which responded to the survey, 4,214 tonnes (3%) was sent to landfill. This compares to the 9% landfilled in 2009 and 16.5% landfilled in 2006.

However, the majority of the waste landfilled in 2012 was mixed waste, and the report recommends that manufacturing sites should first consider how to achieve better segregation of this waste at source to enable more to be recycled.

According to the survey, on average mixed waste is made up from 60% food waste and 40% packaging waste.

Furthermore, 57% of the overall mixed waste produced by the sector was treated by thermal treatment with energy recovery in 2012, but the report suggests that a better environmental option is to boost recycling.

Therefore, it states that more effort should be put into segregating such waste so as to make recycling a viable route for at least part of it including by increasing the proportion of food waste going to AD.

Still, the report also notes that the percentage of mixed waste overall has decreased slightly since 2008 showing that greater segregation of manufacturing waste has been achieved, although there is still opportunity for improvement.

Recycling

Elsewhere, data from respondents suggested that recycling in the sector was 28% in 2012 a significant increase of 35% since 2008. For packaging waste alone, 96% was recycled in 2012.

The other forms of treatment for respondents waste in 2012 included 8% sent for anaerobic digestion (AD), 4% composted and 19% sent for energy recovery through thermal treatment.

However, the majority of waste 37% was sent for landspreading, usually in the form of a digestate for agricultural or ecological benefit.

In 2012 in total, manufacturers prevented 250,000 tonnes of food from entering the waste stream by redistributing it to charities (c. 3,000 tonnes) or for use as animal feed (c. 241,000 tonnes).

Andy Dawe, head of food and drink at WRAP, said he was delighted with the survey results, which showed good progress from the industry.

He said: With waste to landfill now so low, businesses should grasp the opportunity to focus on the greater financial savings achievable through focussing on waste prevention. WRAP is happy to support businesses, and the supply chain as a whole, to identify where waste is arising and enable them to find the solutions to prevent such waste, making large financial and environmental savings.

Also commenting on the survey findings, Andrew Kuyk, director of sustainability at FDF, said: Tackling food waste is a key priority for our industry, both to make what we have go further but to also help conserve the natural resources on which future production depends. These latest findings highlight that FDF members are close to achieving our zero food and packaging waste target by ingraining good environmental practices to deliver a more resilient and resource efficient supply chain.