WRAP confirms sponsors Kenwood, Lidl and Panasonic for Food Waste Action Week 2023

WRAP is pleased to announce that Kenwood, Lidl and Panasonic are confirmed sponsors for Food Waste Action Week (FWAW) 2023. Ocado Retail led the way becoming the first sponsor in August 2022.

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’, encouraging citizens to make their food go further by demonstrating how using up all the food they buy saves time and money.

Food Waste Action Week – the UK’s largest food waste behaviour change campaign - will run from Monday 6^th to Sunday 12^th March 2023. The Week is underpinned by robust research and behavioural science which have informed the approach this year. Love Food Hate Waste wants more businesses, and more people than ever to get involved.

WRAP has also released a Partner Pack to enable partners to start planning how to get involved in Food Week Action Week. By supporting the campaign, partners will be helping their customers to save time and money while helping to tackle the climate crisis. The Partner Pack is for governments, local authorities, manufacturers, brands, retailers, the hospitality and food service sector and community groups.

Catherine David, Director of Collaboration and Change at WRAP: “WRAP is delighted to welcome Kenwood, Lidl and Panasonic to help support Food Waste Action Week’s aim to cut household food waste and fight the climate crisis. With costs of our weekly food shops rising, there has never been a more important time to help households reduce their food waste. The rising cost of living is putting many households under increased budgetary pressures and reducing the amount of food wasted in the home is a simple way to save money and time. Download the Partner Pack to be a part of this important campaign that will help people’s pockets and the planet.”

Sammy Dell, European Product Marketing Manager for Kitchen Appliances at Panasonic: “We’re delighted to be sponsoring Food Waste Action Week, supporting WRAP in its mission to cut household food waste and fight the climate crisis. The fight against food waste is so important, and at Panasonic we continue to do our part, from working with Love Food Hate Waste over Christmas 2022, to now sponsoring Food Waste Action Week. Our sponsorship will see us raise awareness for the cause, as we share helpful tips with consumers on how they can minimise their household food waste, starting with changing habits in the kitchen. We look forward to seeing the campaign unfold.”
 

Jane Perry, Director, Global Marketing & Communications at Kenwood: “As a food-focused organisation, we’re delighted to be sponsoring Food Waste Action Week 2023. We’re looking forward to raising awareness to our customers and the wider public on the impact of food waste, and inspiring cooks around the world with tips, tricks and recipes.

“This is a key step in Kenwood’s aim to make food consumption more sustainable, an ambition shared with everyone at Love Food Hate Waste.”

Objectives of Food Waste Action Week:

• The third annual FWAW will build on the success of this year’s (2022) 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.
• The campaign aims to increase citizens’ confidence in ‘using up leftovers’ by promoting a range of skills that can easily be adopted in order to help us have the greatest impact on reducing food waste in our homes. 
• Love Food Hate Waste has developed the Partner Pack to support local authorities, manufacturers, brands and retailers, and help them get involved with the campaign. Download the Partner Pack 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).