ISS Facility Services UK has recently signed up to an ambitious ten-year voluntary agreement that brings together organisations across the food system – from producer to consumer – to make food and drink production and consumption more sustainable, from the farm to the fork.
The need for a step change in how we produce and consume our food and drink is widely recognised. Demand is rising, both in the UK and globally, and the UK food and drink supply chain will be subject to growing volatility as resource scarcity increases and the impacts of climate change take greater effect. It is also estimated that for every two tonnes of food we eat, another tonne is wasted.
The shared ambition of Courtauld 2025 signatories is to cut the resources needed to provide food and drink by one fifth in ten years, increasing value for everyone. The agreement is overseen and co-ordinated by the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP). Targeted overall outcomes from 2015 to 2025, calculated as a relative reduction per head of population, are:
- A 20% reduction in food and drink waste arising in the UK
- A 20% reduction in the greenhouse gas (GHG) intensity of food and drink consumed in the UK
- A reduction in impact associated with water use in the supply chain
ISS has an important role to play in these efforts as a major provider of catering services to both public and private sector clients. Our UK catering businesses have all collectively signed up and formed a working group that will collaborate with WRAP and other organisations across the food system to pilot innovative new approaches for reducing food waste.
Stephen Waterman, Managing Director- ISS Food and Hospitality, which provides catering services to private sector clients, commented: “We have already been taking steps to reduce food waste in our business by providing our chefs and kitchen teams with a simple app that enables them to track and minimise food waste over time, plus there’s plenty more we will be doing on this issue. We’re all hugely excited about the opportunities for innovation and knowledge-sharing that membership of Courtauld 2025 will bring.”
Steve Creed, Director of Business Programmes, WRAP, said: “The Courtauld Commitment 2025 is our most ambitious agreement yet and we are delighted that ISS has pledged their support as a signatory. We are faced with some big challenges ahead with rising populations, climate change and dwindling resources, but tackling food waste offers a practical option to address these challenges and in doing so, will create new opportunities. Only by working together can we hope to realise the big changes that are essential to ensuring a more prosperous future for individuals, businesses and the planet.”