Sir, Although Wrap’s Courtauld 2025 progress report shows some progress on food waste, fundamentally it confirms the inadequacy of voluntary business action, and the desperate need for regulation.
Firstly, industry is making poor progress. Post-farmgate food businesses have collectively cut their food waste by a negligible 1% per year over the past three years.
Secondly, the industry’s targets are unambitious. The voluntary Food Waste Reduction Roadmap promised 50% reductions in UK food waste from farm to fork by 2030 - but it has recently emerged that the “50%” target is to reduce post-farmgate food waste from 10.2 million tonnes in 2015 to 8.1 million tonnes in 2030 - 15 years for a 21% decrease.
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Thirdly, businesses are not being transparent. The Roadmap promised that signatories would publish their food waste data - however, after over a year, the majority continue to share their data in secret with Wrap.
In the government’s 2018 Resources and Waste Strategy, it promised it would consult on whether to introduce binding national food waste reduction targets, and compulsory food waste reporting for large food businesses. With time running out to get our emissions under control, the government must act decisively. It must introduce binding targets to halve food waste from farm to fork by 2030, fund the measurement of farm-level food waste, and make it compulsory for large food businesses to report their food waste data publicly.
Martin Bowman, senior policy & campaigns manager, Feedback
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