Sauce attended the “Westminster Food & Nutrition Forum Keynote Seminar: The future of the food and drink industry” held on 2 February 2010.
The UK food chain accounts for an estimated 22% of all UK emissions. This includes emissions from food production, workplaces, refrigeration, transportation and emissions from food waste. With more than half of all food waste occurring in the supply chain, food waste contributes to greenhouse gas emissions not only due to the unnecessary emissions associated with production but also through methane release through landfill disposal.
Given the sector’s relative size and economic importance, the food and drink industry has an increased responsibility to reduce environmental impacts and support Government efforts to move towards a low carbon future in the UK. Considerable progress has already been made. Over the last 20 years, food manufacturers have cut their carbon emissions by about 20%. Far less food waste is now sent to landfill by retailers or manufacturers and waste is now seen as a valuable input, for instance, to anaerobic digestion. And even though the population is growing, total grocery packaging isn’t, and this year it is set to decline.
However, there is still a great deal of room for improvement. The food industry needs the Government to back them in going green, to provide the right framework for investment in low carbon technologies and protect their competitiveness, and to provide the right infrastructure to enable them to cut waste and maximise resource efficiency.
Defra’s new ‘Food 2030’ strategy sets out the Government’s vision for a secure, sustainable and healthy food system and the steps that need to be taken to get there. The difficult part though is changing public attitudes because without affecting habits to move to a sustainable lifestyle, the root cause of the problem will not be tackled.
Here at Sauce Consultancy, we believe that leaders within the food and drink industry now have to find a way of eliciting response from people to change their behaviour, helping stimulate a low carbon food system by creating demand for low carbon food products and not just green wash. Our philosophy ‘Action speaks louder than words’ goes right to the core of behaviour change. Too often there is a reliance on passive communications i.e. use of advertising campaigns. Whilst these may have a wide reach, they do not connect with the majority of people. Direct engagement is by far the most powerful tool, and when supported by the right kind of publicity, can deliver incredible results. Sauce Consultancy produces and delivers behaviour change projects across the industry – why not talk to us?
Sauce worked with Icaro to research consumer attitudes to green wash claims for Consumer Focus – click here to view.
By Caroline Robinson
Tags: behaviour change, consumers, food industry, food waste
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