WRAP have found that the manufacturing process wastes 0.9 million tonnes, worth £1.2bn, of food. Furthermore, contrary to the view of many manufacturers that all waste is inevitable, WRAP say that this waste is all avoidable.
To combat this, an international coalition dedicated to halving the amount of food waste produced globally by 2030, has released research that shows how organisations can save $14 (approx. £12) for every $1 (approx. 80p) invested in reducing food waste. Champions 12.3 analysed data from 1,200 business sites belonging to 700 organisations from across the supply chain, including manufacturing sites. They found that half of the sites had achieved at least a 14:1 ROI from food waste reduction, and 99% saw a positive ROI.
All of this makes manufacturing a good point for businesses to start looking at ways to both save money and reduce harm to the environment, say quality management software firm InfinityQS.
“The moral imperative for reducing food waste is clear: a billion people go to bed hungry every night whilst a third of the food produced globally is wasted,” said David Gurr, account manager at InfinityQS. “However, there has never been such a transparent demonstration of how this issue belongs on the CFO’s, and indeed the CEO’s, agenda. There are serious savings to be made here, and WRAP have identified manufacturing process as a smart place to start making a high impact.
“During the manufacturing process, food waste often occurs due to errors which result in food products not meeting the required specifications, and therefore being rendered unfit for purpose. Contamination can also taint food product, making it unusable. Between these and other manufacturing errors, the manufacturing process creates 0.9 million tonnes of unnecessary food waste every year.
“Manufacturers can prevent this expensive and damaging waste of food resources by ensuring they have the right measures in place to guarantee the quality of their product at each stage of the production process. It is also key to be able to identify and isolate incidences of error when they do occur – for example, if a manufacturer can identify which specific batch of food was contaminated by an error, it doesn’t need to recall a whole product line.”
