With over 50% of the world’s habitable land used for agriculture, the detrimental environmental effects of crop and livestock cultivation are for naught when food is thrown away, WRAP points out. The results of their 2021 study launched the UN’s sustainable consumption and production goal, which committed to reducing food waste by 50% by 2030. Sodexo was one of the companies to partner with WRAP for their Courtauld 2030 initiative, a voluntary agreement made in response to the study across the UK food chain to reduce food waste and tackle the supply chain’s other environmental impacts (via WRAP).
While it appears that food waste management is an industry poised for growth, with supply chain disruption, rising costs due to inflation, and labor shortages, the strain the UK’s food sector blunts the urgency of curbing food waste. Keith James, WRAP’s head of policy and Insights, stated in a press release put out by Sodexo, “Sodexo’s findings relating to a rise in self-reported food waste are worrying, but not unexpected given the pressures put on supply chains in recent years.”
