The UK food industry has made ‘major improvements’ in its environmental performance in the last year, according to the Food and Drink Federation (FDF).
As well as achieving a reduction in water usage of over 30% and a 46% reduction in CO2 emissions since 1990, members participating in FDF’s waste survey met the target to send zero food and packaging waste to landfill by the end of 2015, FDF said.
The milestones highlight the ongoing progress that FDF members have made under the Five-Fold Environmental Ambition (FEA), and taken forward under Ambition 2025 – FDF’s new sustainability commitments launched in 2016.
The industry will build on its achievements with new targets covering the issues of sustainable supply chains and natural capital. FDF claimed that achieving these commitments will require ‘a coordinated and concerted effort across the whole supply chain’, and that food and drink manufacturers were committed to playing their part.
Helen Munday, director of food safety, science and sustainability for the Food and Drink Federation, as well as its chief scientific officer, said: “The results published today show that our industry has delivered significantly improved environmental performance.
“The FEA has been an industry-leading ambition and has served as a collective roadmap for food and drink manufacturers. Looking forward, we feel the new commitments under Ambition 2025 cover important areas in which we can make a positive impact as a sector.”
The industry’s commitments under Ambition 2025 include lowering CO2 emissions compared to the 1990 baseline by 55%; delivering continuous improvement in the use of water across the whole supply chain; promote the recognition and uptake of sustainability standards and initiatives in the food and drink sector.
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