Impact Academy Seminar – Professor Josie McLaren
Title: Reporting of Food Waste by UK and EU Retailers
Date: 6 November 2024
Time: 11:30 – 12:30
Venue: NUBS.2.14
If you would like to attend, please register using the following link:
Reporting of Food Waste by UK and EU Retailers
Speaker: Professor Josie McLaren
Abstract:
It is estimated that 30-40% of food is wasted globally each year which creates social, environmental and economic issues. The need to cut food waste is recognised in UN SDG 12.3. However, whilst on government agendas, currently there are no mandatory reporting standards around food waste. It can remain hidden within firms. The aim of this project is to assess how food waste is accounted for in the UK and EU food sector. We analyse disclosures by the top 10 retailers (by revenue) in the UK and in the EU for the period 2015-2023, to assess the current state of play. We find inconsistent definitions of food waste, and considerable variation in targets, metrics and baselines. Companies may also make changes over time, so it is challenging to compare performance and track progress. We suggest that mandatory reporting should be introduced and in the meantime, we call for standardisation of variables to enable benchmarking to take place.
From this project we aim to develop a bigger team with a view to submitting an application for external funding. The project has potential for impact and we have started to engage with stakeholders including:
- Retailers (via a webinar to 65 members of the ECR Retail Loss Group – an international group, and via individual engagement with retailers in the UK and New Zealand)
- Charity (in the UK)
- Policy makers (in New Zealand)
- Academics in the UK and abroad
- Areas for discussion with colleagues:
- Challenges of moving from engagement to impact
- Implications of shared/partial impact case studies
- Challenges of moving forward in the current climate