One month to go until WRAP launches Food Waste Action Week 2023

• Arla Foods and Tesco announced as latest sponsors
• Partner toolkit and campaign assets now available to download

Exactly one month ahead of Food Waste Action Week (FWAW) 2023, WRAP confirms that Arla Foods and Tesco will sponsor the campaign.

They join well-known names Danone, Kenwood, Lidl, Ocado Retail and Panasonic as key sponsors.

WRAP’s citizen-facing brand, Love Food Hate Waste (LFHW) is running its third annual FWAW focusing on the theme of ‘Win. Don’t Bin’ from Monday 6^th to Sunday 12^th March 2023. 

The campaign urges people to make their food go further by demonstrating how making the most of the food they buy and using up all of their leftovers saves time and money.

As the UK’s largest food waste behaviour change campaign, it will aim to increase citizens’ confidence in making the most of their food by promoting a range of skills that can be easily adopted but potentially have the greatest impact on reducing food waste in the home.

Robust research and behavioural science have informed the approach for FWAW this year. Love Food Hate Waste wants more businesses, and more people, than ever to get involved.

WRAP has also released the following multi-lingual resources for partners across governments, local authorities, manufacturers, brands, retailers, the hospitality and food service sector and community groups.

The resources will help partners plan and publicise their involvement in Food Waste Action Week:

• English and Spanish assets: Food Waste Action Week 2023: Campaign toolkit
• English and Welsh assets: Food Waste Action Week 2023: Campaign toolkit

A teaser image in the assets above can be released now, but please keep all other assets under strict embargo until 6 March 2023.

By supporting the campaign, partners will be helping their customers save time and money while addressing the climate crisis.

Catherine David, Director of Collaboration and Change at WRAP:

“Food Waste Action Week is all about cutting our food waste to save households money, and tackle the climate crisis. We are delighted to have Tesco and Arla Foods on board as sponsors – both businesses with a strong track record of helping their consumers reduce food waste. This year we’ll be focusing on making the most of our leftovers – a great way of winning in our ongoing battle against good food going in the bin! Thanks to Tesco and Arla Foods, and our growing list of sponsors and supporters for helping to get our message out there and win the fight against food waste.”

Ben Wood, Arla Senior UK Sustainability Manager:
“Food waste is a key focus for Arla as part of our wider sustainability strategy and we are committed to reducing food waste at processing level by 50% by 2030, which is aligned to the Courtauld 2030 target. As well as the focus on reducing internal food waste, Arla has led the way within the dairy industry through various initiatives, including switching all of our branded milk to ‘Best Before’ date labelling instead of ‘Use By’. Having worked closely with WRAP in recent years on these initiatives, we are delighted to be one of the named sponsors for WRAP’s Food Waste Action Week 2023, to continue educating and inspiring consumers to reduce their food waste.”

Courtney Pallett, Food Waste Campaigns Manager at Tesco: “We’re delighted to support WRAP’s Food Waste Action Week for 2023, building on our own Use Up Day campaign – encouraging everyone to get the maximum value possible out of their weekly shop, and make the most of their leftovers at home. We want our customers to spend less and reduce food waste, benefitting both their pockets and the planet.”

Objectives of Food Waste Action Week:

• The third annual FWAW will build on the success of last year’s campaign which was supported by 80 organisations across 12 countries. The campaign reached over eight million people in the UK, with 55% of them saying they did something about food waste as a result.
• Focusing on the theme of ‘Win. Don’t Bin’, the 2023 campaign will demonstrate how valuable food is in our lives, and how using up everything we buy can save us money and time.
• Love Food Hate Waste has developed the multi-lingual resources (in both English/Spanish and English/Welsh and a Toolkit to support local authorities, manufacturers, brands and retailers, and help them get involved with the campaign. Download the Toolkit and assets and help support Food Waste Action Week 2023.
• LFHW is working closely with its international partners too to ensure the campaign has international reach; amplifying messages about food waste reduction around the world.  

How will the campaign help people reduce their food waste?

• WRAP estimates that 1.1 million tonnes of food are wasted every year from UK homes because of preparing, cooking, or serving too much. 
• That’s one-quarter of all food wasted for this reason, costing people £3.5 billion. Increasing people’s skills aound using up leftovers will have a significant impact on reducing food waste from UK households at a key point in the journey of food through the home – just before it ends up in the bin.
• These skills involve putting leftovers in an appropriate container, labelling and storing in the fridge or freezer and then re-heating or eating cold at a later stage. WRAP’s research* has shown that many people lack confidence in this area so LFHW wants to support citizens to try to increase confidence in these areas.

Why is reducing our food waste important?

• Research estimates that wasting food costs the average UK family more than £700 a year.
• We throw away 6.6 million tonnes of household food waste a year in the UK. This food waste is responsible for nearly 25 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions, equivalent to 5.4% of the UK’s territorial emissions. 
• The majority, 4.5 million tonnes is food that could have been eaten and is worth approximately £14 billion (or £60 a month for an average family with two children).