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Consumption

Food sector value chain - Consumption

Primary               Manufacturing        Packaging         Distribution          Retail                            Production       

The final stage in the food chain is consumption and end of life management. Greenhouse gas emissions and food and packaging waste are the main environmental concerns at this stage of the chain. However there are significant social issues as well including nutrition, value of families eating together and over consumption. A further issues is the use of detergents when washing up.

Key considerations

  1. What are they key threats to sustainability at this stage of the food chain?
  2. What is your organisation required to do by law?
  3. What is the role of retailers and local authorities?
  4. What external help is available?

 

1.    What are they key threats to sustainability at this stage of the food chain?

  • Greenhouse gas emissions result from consumer travel to supermarkets by car. It has been estimated that 1 in 10 car journeys in the UK is for food shopping resulting in social costs of around £3.5 billion per year due to traffic emissions, noise accidents and congestion. The negative effects of consumer travel to retail outlets have been exacerbated since the 1980s due to the rapid increase in the number of out-of-town shopping centres.
  • Food and packaging waste is the other significant threat to sustainability at this stage of the food chain. Despite the fact that the amount of household waste recycled or composted in the UK has risen from less than 1% in 1983/4 to over 26% in 2005/6 this remains a key sustainability risk. The Food Industry Sustainability Strategy estimates that 5.2 million tonnes of food related packaging waste and 6.7 million tonnes of food are sent to landfill from UK homes each year. WRAP estimate that on average, nearly 1/3rd of all food purchased by households is wasted, of which approximately half is inedible and half is edible. This equates to 6.7 million tonnes of food waste produced by UK households per year - about one fifth of the UK's household waste. Waste sent to landfill also has significant environmental impacts in terms of methane emissions. The UK is currently very reliant on landfill as a means of waste disposal and methane emissions from landfill heavily influence UK greenhouse gas emissions.

2.    What is your organisation required to do by law?

Defra's Waste Strategy for England is the only significant legislative driver encouraging sustainability at this stage of the food chain. This aims to ensure a significant reduction in the quantity of food and packaging waste, from households, being sent to landfill, through improving the provision of recycling facilities for food and food packaging waste. More specifically it aims to achieve the following.

  • Increase household recycling to at least 40% by 2010.
  • Reduce household waste not composted, re-used or recycled from 22.2 million tonnes (2000) to 12.2 million tonnes by 2020.
  • Extend the provision of recycling facilities to public places including shopping centres and stations.
  • Improve the provision of household recycling facilities.

Currently food labels and legislation that pertains to sustainability labelling can be broadly categorised as being either mandatory (such as the Food Labelling Regulations) voluntary (for example Guideline Daily Amount labels) or certification (for example the Red Tractor Labels). The Food Labelling Regulations 1996, require labels on pre-packaged foods to contain certain information. Whilst most of this obligatory information is not relevant to the sustainability requirement of the inclusion of the place of origin of the product (if failure to do so might be misleading) as well as a list of ingredients, and is therefore relevant to both the local sourcing and food nutrition aspect of Accounting for Sustainability. Other established legislation which impacts significantly upon food labelling includes the Weights and Measures Act 1985, the Food Safety Act  1990, and the Food Labelling Regulations 2004/5 however these acts have little relevance to issues of sustainability. Further information on this and other food related legislation can be found on the Food Standards Agency website.

3.    What is the role of food retailers and local authorities?

Local councils through the provision of local recycling facilities and collection of recyclables at the household level, have an important role to play. As a result of improved provision of household collection of recyclable materials, the amounts of household waste recycled or composted in the UK has risen from less than 1% in 1983/4 to over 26% in 2005/6.

Food retailers can also act as a catalyst for change. They can help consumers to produce less waste for landfill through the promotion of appropriately labelled goods (in terms of their recyclability), reducing packaging, and through the provision of onsite recycling facilities.

Furthermore, working in conjunction with local authorities, supermarkets have the potential to organise widespread, efficient and convenient public transport connections between population centres and their stores to reduce the need for consumer travel by car. There is little evidence of this having taken place to date.

4.    What external help is available?

The Institute of Grocery Distributors provides information, factsheets, research and best practice guides to enable organisations and individuals to incorporate sustainability considerations into their actions. Of particular relevance at this stage is their publication IGD: Food Waste in the Home.

The Sustainable Development Commission is the Government's independent advisory body on sustainable development. They provide best practice guides along with information and advice regarding sustainability issues. The Sustainable Development Commission Annual Review is an especially useful resource.

Other useful sources of advice and information for consumers include.

Useful resources for local authorities include:

Challenges to overcome

  • A lack of available recycling facilities particularly for materials such as plastic.
  • A lack of alternatives to car travel to supermarkets.
  • A lack of consumer knowledge concerning the environmental impact of their actions.

 

Are there useful sources of advice we haven’t included? If so, please let us know.

Are there key considerations we haven’t included? If so, please let us know.

Are there challenges in this area we haven’t discussed? If so, please let us know.