22 May 2018 Report

Courtauld 2025 baseline and restated household food waste figures

Download Files Log in to add to favourites
This content has been archived.

WRAP has restated the way UK household food waste is defined and described, to conform to the Food Loss and Waste Standard (FLWS). This coincides with the publication of the Courtauld Commitment 2025 baseline for the year 2015. 

Updated Household Food Waste Figures

For the most up-to-date information on the Courtauld Commitment please refer to: The Courtauld Commitment 2030 Milestone Report 2023.

For the most up-to-date information on household food and drink waste in the United Kingdom, including estimates on quantity and types of waste, reasons for discarding, financial costs, and greenhouse gas emissions, please refer to the Household Food and Drink Waste in the United Kingdom 2021/22.

Key points

  • The baseline covers household food waste and data for the supply chain: retail, manufacture and the hospitality & food service sector.
  • Total household food waste is now reported as 7.1 million tonnes.

Restating the Household Food Waste figures 

We have restated the Household Food Waste (HHFW) figures to ensure we conform to how food waste is defined and described under the FLWS, the international standard that WRAP helped develop with partners including World Resources Institute, The United Nations Environment Programme (UN Environment), the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, the Consumer Goods Forum and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. 
 
The standard aims for greater international consistency in measurement, reporting and action on food waste. 
 
What does this mean? WRAP has restated 2015 data for household food waste, and for key historical years, using the international definitions and classifications for food waste. We no longer classify food waste under three categories of ‘avoidable’, ‘possibly avoidable’ or ‘unavoidable’ food waste, but simply as either wasted food (edible parts), or the associated inedible parts. 
 
Total HHFW is now reported as 7.1 million tonnes rather than 7.3 million tonnes. This is entirely due to food purchased for human consumption, but ultimately fed to animals (200,000 tonnes), no longer being classified as ‘food waste’. 
The impact of this change to the figures is shown below in the Figure 2 infographic below.
   

Courtauld Commitment 2025 baseline 

The Courtauld 2025 baseline (against which progress to reduce UK food waste will be measured) is the first time the UK has had a complete and comparable estimate for total food waste, post farm gate, for the same year. It totals 10.2 million tonnes. 
The C2025 baseline covers household food waste as well as data for the supply chain: retail, manufacture and the hospitality & food service sector. 
 
The Courtauld 2025 food waste prevention target is to reduce food & drink waste arising in the UK by 20% by 2025 compared to 2015, calculated as a relative reduction per head of population. Achieving the target would reduce per capita food waste from 156kg per person to 125 kg per person, resulting in 1.5 million tonnes a year less food waste arising in 2025 compared to 2015.
 
The restated HHFW figures combined with the food waste across the supply chain is broken down below in the Figure 1 infographic below.

Figure 1: Courtauld Commitment 2025 baseline graphic

Courtauld Commitment 2025 baseline infographic

Figure 2: Restated Household Food Waste figures graphic

Restated household food waste figures

Download files

  • WRAP-Courtauld Commitment 2025 - baseline report for 2015.pdf

    PDF, 807.31 KB

    Download

  • WRAP-Household-food-waste-restated-data-2007-2015

    PDF, 1.6 MB

    Download

By downloading resources you are agreeing to use them according to our terms and conditions.
These files may not be suitable for users of assistive technology.

Tags

Initiatives
Future-proof food Reducing and preventing food waste Measuring and reporting food waste Surplus food redistribution Courtauld Commitment Food Waste Reduction Roadmap Guardians of Grub Meat, poultry and fish Fresh produce sector Dairy sector Bakery sector Ambient foods sector Convenience, chilled foods and frozen Whole chain resource efficiency Household food waste UN SDG 12.3
Sectors
Farmers and growers Hospitality and food service Manufacturers Retailers and brands Non-governmental organisations

Related pages 

Courtauld Commitment 2025

Food Waste Reduction Roadmap

Measuring food waste

Related sites 

Love Food Hate Waste 

Food Loss and Waste Accounting and Reporting Standard 

United Nations Environment Programme 

UN Food and Agriculture Organisation

Consumer Goods Forum 

World Business Council for Sustainable Development