International food and drink group, Princes, has published food waste data for its global operations, reporting a 27% reduction against the Group’s 2018/2019 baseline, marking progress towards the company’s 2030 goal to halve food waste.
Of the 69,141 tonnes of food waste generated across Princes’ global operations, it reported 19,130 tonnes were sent to anaerobic digestion plants to be converted into energy, while 40,879 tonnes were recycled into bio-based materials and 4,897 tonnes were used as animal feed.
Additionally, 507 tonnes were redistributed to charities including FareShare, a UK food waste and hunger charity. Since 2013, Princes has donated all food and drink that cannot be sold to FareShare. In 2021/2022, over 105,000 cases of food and drink (475 tonnes) were donated to FareShare, and the Group established a food bank partnership in Italy for excess stock at its Princes Industrie Alimentari operation in Foggia, donating 32 tonnes to date.
As a signatory to the Champions 12.3 coalition of organisations dedicated to accelerating progress towards tackling global food waste, Princes has adopted the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12.3 which is – By 2030, halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses. Princes said it is also committed to maintaining zero to landfill waste across its UK operations, and accelerating progress towards achieving this across all international operations.
David McDiarmid, corporate relations director at Princes, said: “Addressing the issue of food waste from farm to fork is a responsibility we take very seriously, which is reflected in our commitment to achieve a 50% reduction by 2030. We’ve made considerable progress, achieving a 27% reduction to date, and we’re currently exploring new opportunities to accelerate further action. As well as tackling food waste in our own operations, we will continue to engage with suppliers to encourage target setting and drive further action, and raise awareness among consumers on how they can cut waste at home.”
Over the past two years, Princes has supported WRAP’s annual UK Food Waste Action Week to highlight the role that preventing food waste plays in tackling climate change. The Group also launched an initial ‘Love Your Leftovers’ campaign in 2022, creating recipe videos of delicious meals prepared using its kitchen cupboard favourite products, along with typical leftovers – to help families waste less and save money during the cost-of-living crisis.
Continued progress to reduce waste and reuse materials is key to Princes’ 2030GreenGoals initiative, which outlines the Group’s ambition to become a carbon neutral manufacturing business across its UK and international operations by 2030.
The business claims it has been reducing emissions through site upgrades and investments for many years, but reset its base level in 2018/19. Since then, Princes has reduced its operational carbon emissions by 10.5%, with further projects planned to achieve the Group’s 2030 target.
