WRAP announces Food Waste Action Week 2023

WRAP’s food waste campaign ‘Love Food Hate Waste’ (LFHW) has announced its third annual Food Waste Action Week (FWAW) – part of its initiative to change food waste behaviour, cut household food waste, and food shopping bills.

Using the focal theme ‘Win. Don’t bin’, WRAP aims to see next year’s campaign highlighting the value of food and how ‘using up everything we buy’ can save money, time, and the planet.

Estimations from WRAP suggest that ‘1.1 million tonnes of food’ are wasted annually in the UK due to preparing, cooking, or over-serving. This makes up for ‘one-quarter of all food wasted’, costing £3.5 billion and the average UK family more than £700 a year.

This statistic also contributes to the 6.6 million tonnes of household food waste produced in the UK every year, 4.5 million tonnes of which could be eaten, potentially saving approximately £14 billion. Food waste currently contributes to 25 million tonnes of CO2 emissions in the UK, WRAP reports.

In response, the NGO highlights FWAW’s capacity to promote skills that can reduce food waste at home, such as ‘saving leftovers, putting them in an appropriate container, labelling and storing in the fridge or freezer and then re-heating or eating cold’.

Citizen confidence in ‘using up leftovers’ could therefore be increased as a result of the event – having a significant impact on UK household food waste before it ends up in the bin.

High expectations for the 2023 campaign have been set after this year’s FWAW, which was supported by 80 organisations across 12 countries. This garnered the attention of ‘more than eigh million people in the UK’ – almost 55 per cent of which claimed to reduce the amount of food they bin at home.

Involved in FWAW are governments, manufacturers, brands and retailers, and the hospitality and food service sector, with retailer Ocado confirmed as the first sponsor. These partners will join WRAP to spread its campaign message.

Catherine David, Director of Collaboration and Change at WRAP, commented: “There has never been a more important time to help households reduce their food waste.

“With food price inflation at an all-time high, WRAP is excited to be running our third annual FWAW and is looking for partners to step up and help people save money and fight the climate crisis.

“The cost of living crisis is putting many households under increased budgetary pressures and reducing the amount of food we waste in the home is a simple way we can all save ourselves money and time. Using up leftovers is a win-win solution for both our pockets and the planet.”

Rachel Cox-Reynolds, director for own-brand, technical and sustainability at Ocado Retail added: "Here at Ocado, we have the lowest level of food waste in the industry at just 0.6 per cent.

“It's a topic that we're passionate about so are delighted to be sponsoring WRAP's latest campaign, designed to help and encourage others to reduce their waste too."