ReFood, the food waste recycling company, is calling for rejuvenated Government support in its national drive to eradicate food waste from landfill.
Having lobbied for a UK-wide ban on food waste to landfill since 2013, ReFood believes that achieving this will be impossible without legislative support.
Since launching its ‘Vision 2020’ roadmap in 2013, Philip Simpson, commercial director at ReFood, believes that national change is essential in preventing a waste crisis, with the greenhouse gases created by landfilling food waste proving damaging to the environment.
“For the past seven years, we have been campaigning for a national ban on food waste to landfill. Working in partnership with trade bodies, celebrity chefs, politicians and thought leaders from across the food supply chain, we spearheaded the Vision 2020 movement in 2013 and have lobbied the government to change legislation ever since.
“We’ve experienced this situation many times before – excellent legislative vision marred by watered-down, piecemeal implementation.”
“While our efforts and the traction of Vision 2020 have since played an instrumental part in reducing the UK’s food waste volumes (from 14 million tonnes to 10 million tonnes PCA), sending food waste to landfill is unfortunately still considered perfectly acceptable by law. Joined-up government support to make a positive change has always fallen short of expectations and, in result, we continue to lag far behind the global standard.”
Simpson continued: “We’ve experienced this situation many times before – excellent legislative vision marred by watered-down, piecemeal implementation. Already, talk of a firm ban has begun to weaken, while minimal progress has been made towards preparing for such a change.
“In my opinion, food waste should be high on the political agenda. After all, insight from WRAP suggests that household food waste alone is responsible for generating 19 million tonnes of CO2e every year (equivalent to the emissions generated by 30% of cars on the road).
“The goal of Vision 2020 was to achieve a national ban on food waste to landfill by the year detailed in its title, however legislative obstacles have made this ambition a significant challenge. In 2019, we released a new report – New Food Waste Horizons – which details the outstanding progress and individual successes achieved across the food supply chain.
“While a national ban has not yet come to fruition, this new report reinvigorates our goal and details the route to achieve it. Legislative support is absolutely imperative, and we urge the Government to rejuvenate its support.”
