Princes Group reports global food waste figures
International food and drink group Princes has published food waste data for its global operations, reporting that just 1.1% of total food handled by the business was wasted in the year to March 2020.
Of the 22,149 tonnes of food waste generated, 18,397 tonnes (83%) was sent to anaerobic digestion to be converted to energy. In its UK operations, Princes decreased food waste by 7% to 16,631 tonnes in 2019/20.
As a member of the Champions 12.3 coalition of organisations dedicated to accelerating progress towards tackling global food waste, Princes Group has formally adopted the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12.3 – “By 2030, halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses”.
David McDiarmid, corporate relations director at Princes, said: “As one of the UK’s leading grocery brands and food and drink manufacturers, we have a responsibility to tackle this challenge, and we’re pleased to see that our continued efforts to address food waste across our operations are moving these figures in the right direction. Though we’ve made considerable headway, reducing food waste within our UK operations by 7% in the past year, we are aware that there is more work to do, and we’re continually exploring different options to drive further progress.”
“While we are primarily focused on our operations currently, being a signatory to Champions 12.3 is a farm to fork responsibility. We will continue to call on suppliers to join this initiative and communicate with consumers to raise awareness about the importance of food waste reduction in the home.”
Material sent to other destinations includes 55,241 tonnes used for animal feed, and 427 tonnes redistributed for human consumption via charitable donations.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the dedication of Princes colleagues has played a vital role in meeting customer and consumer demand, as well as helping charities in their ongoing efforts to feed the nation and support communities at this challenging time. In response to the pandemic, Princes has distributed almost 700,000 products across the UK, Italy and Mauritius this year. This includes 344,000 meals donated to FareShare, the UK’s largest charity tackling hunger and food waste in the UK.
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