Food waste prevention Westminster Forum, 29 June 2010 Professor - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Food waste prevention Westminster Forum, 29 June 2010 Professor - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Food waste prevention Westminster Forum, 29 June 2010 Professor David C Wilson Independent Waste and Resources Management Consultant & Visiting Professor, Imperial College www.davidcwilson.com The food we waste today WRAP: one

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Food waste prevention

Professor David C Wilson

Independent Waste and Resources Management Consultant & Visiting Professor, Imperial College

www.davidcwilson.com

Westminster Forum, 29 June 2010

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The food we waste today

  • WRAP:

– one third of all the food we buy – at least half of that food that could have been eaten – £680/ 4-person family/ year – levels similar for rich and poor

  • US:

– 30% of food that is bought – $48 billion/ year – about $625/ family/ year

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The food we used to waste

  • No WRAP data ….
  • Rich vs poor
  • Food scarce, expensive
  • Left-overs reused …
  • .. or fed to animals
  • Ladies: Leave some for ‘Mr Manners’
  • Wartime: ‘A clear plate is a clear conscience’
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SLIDE 4

Modern affluence has changed attitudes

  • UK household waste generation

(per capita per annum)

– 1980 310 kg – 2000 510 kg

  • Everyone now

wastes food, but ..

  • No longer anyone to

eat the leftovers ….

  • … a few exceptions!
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SLIDE 5

Is this just a rich country issue?

  • Good data has been

hard to come by

  • New UN-Habitat book

has changed that

  • Comparable data for 20

cities in 6 continents

Reference: Scheinberg, A., Wilson, D.C. and Rodic L. (2010). Solid Waste Management in the World’s Cities. Published by Earthscan for UN-Habitat, March

  • 2010. www.earthscan.co.uk/?tabid=102382
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Comparing data across countries

Income level Waste generation Organic fraction Organic waste generation

Kg/capita/ year % Kg/capita/ year

High 550 29 160 Middle 350 54 187 Low 240 70 170

Source: Scheinberg, A., Wilson, D.C. and Rodic L. (2010). Solid Waste Management in the World’s Cities. Published by Earthscan for UN-Habitat, March 2010.

www.earthscan.co.uk/?tabid=102382

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Detailed data for Malaysia (%)

Organic waste category High income group Middle income group Low income group Food (consumed) 36.91 45.63 49.06 Food (not consumed) 1.9 1.58 0.32 Garden waste 11.26 8.64 5.94 Other organics 0.59 0.18 0.27 TOTAL 50.7 56.0 55.6

Source: Fauziah, S. H., Simon, C. and Agamuthu, P. Malaysian Journal of Science, 23(2): 61-70 (2005)

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Does it matter that the ‘West’ wastes so much food?

  • If everyone consumed at

the UK’s current rate, we would need three Earths, not one

ONE PLANET LIVING

  • The food we eat accounts for 20% of the UK’s

greenhouse gas emissions

  • So the food we squander accounts for around 5%
  • f our total carbon footprint
  • Equivalent to taking 1 in 4 cars off the road
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How do we move back to more sustainable living?

  • A very broad question…
  • … but behaviour change

IS possible

  • e.g. UK recycling rates

– Increased from a low of 6% to 38% in 12 years, still rising

Source: 1979 ISWA Waste Minimisation Conference, Geneva

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Influencing behaviour framework

Approach evolves as attitudes and behaviours change

  • ver time

Catalyse

Is the package enough to break a habit and kick start change?

Exemplify Enable Engage

(Make it easier)

Encourage

(Give the right Signals) (Lead by example) (Get people involved) Source: Defra, Securing the Future, 2005

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Love Food Hate Waste

www.lovefoodhatewaste.com

  • Focus on

saving money

  • Add your voice

to the campaign

  • Feedback on

performance

  • Website
  • Press and media
  • Local campaigns
  • Education in

schools

  • Handy tips
  • Recipes for leftovers
  • Separate food waste collection
  • Partnerships with retailers
  • Food waste diary
  • Love food champions workbook
  • Love Food Champions
  • Celebrity endorsement

Exemplify Enable Engage Encourage Catalyse

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– its time has come Waste Prevention

  • Top of the hierarchy

for more than 30 years

  • We have paid lip

service long enough

  • Time to take it

seriously

Source: Waste Strategy for England 2007. The hierarchy was first drawn in this format by Prof David C Wilson: ‘Stick or carrot? The use of policy measures to move waste management up the hierarchy’. Waste Management & Research (1996) 14, 385-398

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Disposal

Supply / Purchase Consume

design, manufacture & retail consumption patterns

Produce

repair & re‐use

Discard Collect

Extract raw materials

sustainable products & services effective collection mechanisms

Recover energy recovery / markets for re‐use reduce waste to landfill

Waste prevention requires action at all stages of the resource cycle

Source : Social Marketing Practice and Brook Lyndhurst

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Evidence on household waste prevention

  • Major evidence review for Defra
  • Key gap is measurement

– Difficult to measure what isn’t there – Without proof of savings, difficult for local authorities to justify expenditure

  • www.rand.defra.gov.uk, click on

‘search’ and enter WR1204 as keyword

  • Waste Management & Research,

special issue on waste prevention 28 (3), March 2010

Logo for the European Week for Waste Reduction Source: www.ewwr.eu

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SLIDE 15

In conclusion

Summary

  • Food waste is a disease of affluence,
  • f recent origin
  • Not yet afflicting the rest of the world
  • But our greed does have a global impact

Looking forward

  • Behaviours can be changed
  • Prevention is the first priority
  • The supply chain needs to take responsibility
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Thank you for your attention!

www.davidcwilson.com

waste@davidcwilson.com d.c.wilson@imperial.ac.uk