The concept of ‘planetary health’ is particularly useful in regard to the food system, a sector across which human health and the health of our planet and the ecosystems it maintains most closely overlap. In 2016 the UK food system contributed approximately 10% of our yearly Greenhouse Gas emissions, and globally our food system drives deforestation, biodiversity loss and freshwater use. Adopting the right strategies for land use in the UK will determine outcomes for both public health and the UK’s contribution to wider climate change.

Our new report reveals that a change of law could liberate up to 2.5 million tonnes of currently wasted food from the UK’s manufacturing, retail and catering sectors to be fed to pigs – 20% of the UK’s estimated food waste.

We ranked the UK’s top ten supermarkets based on publicly available information on their work to reduce food waste. Our ranking assessed the supermarkets against the food use hierarchy which requires that prevention be the priority towards tackling waste. Tesco is ranked at number one, while Waitrose came out at the bottom of the pack. Other supermarkets known for their strong reputations on sustainability, including Co-op and Marks & Spencer, also scored poorly.

Foodrise’s response to the EU’s consultation on how to implement mandatory food waste measurement required under the Waste Framework Directive.

Based on Foodrise’s experience working with farmers through our Gleaning Network, and a survey of farmers, this report examines the systemic role that supermarkets play in the overproduction and subsequent waste of food on UK Farms. Farmers we surveyed reported reported that together they wasted approximately 22,000-37,000 tonnes per year, equal to enough produce to provide up to 250,000 people with five portions of fruit and vegetables a day for a year.

Foodrise responded to the Mayor of London’s consultation on the London Environment Strategy. We strongly supported the ambition to make London a zero waste city by 2026, but argued more would need to be done to reduce food waste from both households and businesses, and to ensure that the food waste hierarchy is followed by all London food businesses. We also encouraged the Mayor to consider opportunities for London to become a pioneer in developing circular, local food systems – for example through urban growing and capturing and composting food waste at a local level.

An estimated 65% of mangos in Senegal are wasted every year, equating to around 88,000 tonnes.  The main causes of this waste are fruit fly, infrastructural challenges, weakness of cold storage methods, harvest management, cosmetic specifications, and local market saturation. Exporting companies select mangos from farms based on cosmetic appearance. The result is that farmers are left with large amounts of mangos on their trees which are unsold.