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Welcome to Week 3

Video revealing the extent of the waste of baked goods in the retail system and some of the solutions being developed.
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While retailers are helping to reduce bread waste, challenges such as stock levels, demand, and best before dates still result in about 67 and 1/2 thousand tonnes of baked goods being wasted yearly. A third of the UK’s total retail food waste. How can this be reduced further? There’s over 80 community fridges in the UK already. And whilst we’re all encouraged to donate, over 95% of the food that’s redistributed is from large retailers and businesses. Apps like Too Good To Go also allow businesses to sell leftover food directly to the consumer. With end of day food from cafes and restaurants offered in flash sales at discounted prices.
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Such initiatives and ways of thinking are being promoted by authorities through prevention targets and legislation, too. For example, in 2016, France became the first country to penalise supermarkets that throw away edible food. And in the same year, Italian parliament established food waste laws, enabling farmers and companies to donate edible food, making donations simpler and providing tax credits for the food that’s donated. Do you know what your retailer is doing to reduce food waste?

Last Week you discovered tips and tools to help you reduce food waste at home and in your local community. Some of the initiatives that work at a community level are also effective at a national level and you’ll find out more about the organisations and movements that are driving the agenda this Week.

Watch the video to hear how governments are making it easier for companies to reduce waste and for non-profit organisations to facilitate its redistribution. There will be more detail on this later in the Week.

References

Edie, ‘A crust above: Tesco to use waste bread in new products’. Available: https://www.edie.net/news/5/A-crust-above–Tesco-to-use-waste-bread-in-new-products/

Hubbub, 2019. The community fridge, available at: https://www.hubbub.org.uk/the-community-fridge

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From Waste to Value: How to Tackle Food Waste

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