One of the growing concerns in the food industry is the need for sustainability. Recent studies have shown that the food industry lags in matters of environmental performance. Reason being the industry plays a major role in impacting the environment. For instance, the total Greenhouse gas Emissions (GHG) produced by the food industry alone is about 20-30 percent (Dincer, et al., 2009). This poses a need for the players in this industry to seek ways of being more sustainable. Following the same, global leaders are implementing sustainability initiatives within their companies that will help reduce future negative impacts to the environment.
One such initiative is the EU environmental policies that have outlined various agendas that help reduce some of the contributors of environmental degradation like poor waste management and inefficient carbon reduction. The initiative describes the goal of sustainable environment as a way to empower every individual globally to enjoy an improved quality life whilst satisfying their basic needs without jeopardizing the quality of life of future generations. Which can only be achieved through an innovative, sustainable and productive economy that provides high employment levels: and a fair society that encourages social inclusion, personal wellbeing and sustainable communities as a whole.
Part A
This next section discusses the most significant legislations by the EU that enhance sustainability in areas such as waste management and carbon reduction.
Waste framework directive
EUs waste policy is driven by this directive (2008/98/EC) that gives the outline through which waste management policy is achieved throughout its member states. It has sub-directives that deal with wastes of a particular nature not necessarily food wastes. The predominant requirement of this directive is that the waste management hierarchy is applied by the UK. The order of priority is set as follows; prevention, reuse, recycling and disposal. Each of which will be discussed below (Priestley, 2016).
Landfill directive
Disposal of wastes was usually done at landfills, which is now regulated by the EU landfill directive (1999/31/EC). This directive requires the UK by 2020 to minimize the total amount of recyclable local waste sent to landfill by 30%. This initiative was met and by 75% and 50% in 2010 and 2013 respectively and the government is confident that it will meet the target set for 2020 (European Union, 2016).
Legislation on sustainability of waste management
As waste is a devolved matter, the waste legislation by EU applies to the whole of UK and hence transposed into law in each state. Food waste has not been fully defined but can be described generally as the food materials and drinks that are intended for human consumption by the business in question but are not sold ultimately for human consumption. This includes both edible and inedible parts of food. The sustainable UN development goals were agreed on 2015, September. The waste framework directive by EU drives the UK waste policy and includes the waste hierarchy looked at below (Priestley, 2016).
Prevention of waste
Prevention of food wastes focuses on reducing the amount of waste generated at a food source. It involves considering a number of processes such as manufacturing, packaging, processing, recycling, storage and disposal processes to recognize opportunities to manage and reduce the impacts of waste to the environment.
Successful waste prevention demands for completion of certain activities such as visiting of sites, taking note of the production and packaging of wastes to guide and develop well practices, and finally coming up with strategies for preventing, recovering and reusing.
Prevention of waste is beneficial in a number of ways. Such as:
Redistribution of wastes
The UK government promotes the redistribution of food surplus to other people if prevention of food waste is futile. The view of the legislators is that food surplus production should be maintained at a low rate but incase good food is not sold then it should be given to the less fortunate to eat (Ole Jørgen Hanssen, 2015).
Recycling of food wastes
In England, separate food waste productions has not been given any legal requirements. The local authorities of different areas are given that responsibility taking into consideration local logistics and circumstances. There are a number of ways that can be used to recycle the food wastes, for instance, mixing garden waste with food waste known as in-vessel composting.
It was concluded by the government that separate waste bins be provided where necessary so that the waste food is moved to the bottom of the chain. Published reports in 2014 by the EAC (The Environmental Audit Committee) and EFRA (Environmental, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee) recognized the importance of local authorities to adjust their services to meet local needs. They also saw the need of government to find ways of reducing the amount of residual waste stream and also direct the local authorities in England to finding a more standard approach (Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Environment, 2013).
Recovery of waste products
This option is present because of the possibility of not completely eliminating food waste. In this case, anaerobic digestion is considered by the government to reduce the amount of waste filling empty lands known as landfills. In this process, microorganisms help to break down food materials in the absence of oxygen. The procedure results in the formation of two products; a fertilizer rich in nitrogen known as digestate and also biogas that can be used as a source of combined heat and power (Shih & Prasad, 2016).
Disposal of waste products
EU introduced landfill tax in 1996 in order to meet its landfill diversion targets. Extensive research shows that this tax has been a major contributor to waste management in the food industry and has promoted the need of alternatives to landfill. Other than the government, there are industries that also contribute the reduction of amount of food waste to landfill. For instance, the ReFood is a company that drives the vision 2020 by driving a campaign that aims at burning all food waste by 2020 (Pichtel, 2014).
Legislation on reduction of energy conservation/carbon reduction
The target set by EU through the 2012 Energy Efficient Directive to get to 20% by the year 2020. This requires that all players in the industry find ways of using energy efficiently at all stages of the energy chain. The target was raised by 10% that is to be reached by 2030 when the commission met in 2016 (Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Environmental Audit Committee, 2008). The new set measures are supposed to optimize use of energy and thus save costs for the industry and consumers alike. For instance:
From above discussion, the food industry is tasked with the duty of ensuring that their use of energy is as per the regulations. From the building they are situated in to the tools used to offer their services.
The other key drivers that promote sustainable practices in the food industry for both the commercial and public organizations are discussed below.
The courtauld commitment
This is a voluntary agreement that was started by WRAP (the Waste and Resources Action Program) in 2005. Its main intention is to reduce the amount of waste in the grocery store. The commitment has done 3 phases to completion and are as below (Murphy, et al., 2014):
Phase 1 – lasted for four years, 2005-2009. New technologies and solutions were considered and as such led to the reduction of primary packaging and food that was considered household waste. It prevented wastage in terms of packaging and just consumable food of up to 1.2 million tonnes. Carbon dioxide emission equivalent to 3.3 million tonnes in the four year period.
Phase 2 – This was conducted between 2010 and 2012. This combined the initiative of the first phase and also reduce both tertiary and secondary packaging. This phase ensured saving wastes of up to 1.7 million tonnes. This led to the realization of the reduction of carbon impact by 10%.
Phase 3 – this was initiated between 2013 and 2015. This was different from the previous phases because it proposed introduction of designed packaging to reduce food waste and maintain sustainability. WRAP gave out a report in 2015 that indicated a reduction in product, ingredient and packaging waste by 3.2%. Also the same percentage was realized in terms of carbon emissions against the set target of 3%.
The hospitality and food service agreement (HFSA)
Also a voluntary agreement, was initiated by WRAP between 2013 and 2015. This agreement had two targets that included (Great Britain: Department of Energy and Climate Change, 2013):
These targets have been reported as met by WRAP during their first year, with 25% increase in surplus food being redistributed and 2.5% reduction in the CO2 emission equivalent associated with packaging and food wastes. Completion of the targets led to the HFSA aims to be combined with the Courtauld commitment.
Company initiatives
This is information set by many companies to outline their ways of optimizing sustainability in the food industry. Below are some of the instances employed by some companies to realize the same:
Households
WRAP has come up with campaigns such as the Love Food Hate Waste (LFHW) that allows the consumer to make decisions on purchasing food, managing and consuming it by providing relevant information. Some of the initiatives set up by households include the following:
Schools
Food wastes can be done away with in schools using various means, below are some of the methods used in schools as reported by WRAP in their food waste in school report:
Part B
Simply put sustainability refers to the utilization of resources to an extent that can still be replaced by the capacity of the Earth. In this case, food sustainability involves merging various aspects like quality, affordability, safety, health, security of the food supply, at the same time, be an industry that provides employments and high growth potential, and also encouraging environmental sustainability, especially on areas such as quality of soil, water, biodiversity and climate change (Leslie, 2013). Food sustainability touches on the each of the steps from Agriculture to the distribution chain, discussed below is how sustainability of various aspects are realized specifically in the manufacture of food.
Water is one of the ingredients put in drinks and food directly. Meaning the end result depends on the quality of water used. Good quality water is supplied by either water companies or can be privately sourced, that is, a borehole. However, pollution can occur in the system transporting the water from one part to another because it can be polluted with micro-organisms like fecal matter. The quality of water is closely related to the means of conservation and water recycling making it imperative to reduce the risks and prevent unnecessary damage by making sure that the essential control measures are already in place.
Sustainability of the portable water is encouraged by a few guidelines that make it safe for use in a food manufacturing industry. They include:
The burning of fossil fuels is the major cause of change in world climate. Countries like the UK are bound by the Kyoto protocol to minimize on the emissions of Green House Gases by 20%. The food industry is a major consumer of the energy in UK and thus contributes to the emissions of GHG. The following are some of the steps taken to ensure sustainability in carbon reduction (Baldwin, 2011):
The devolved administrations and government come up with a CCP (climate change program) to help the UK drive the Kyoto agenda and meet their targets for domestic energy. The program includes various strategies such as the CCL (Climate Change Levy) and CCA (Climate Change Agreements) that motivate businesses to be energy efficient and the other offers an 80% discount on the CCL for those saving participating in energy saving.
Studies conducted in the food industry examining the workability of the main CCAs associated with manufacturing of food indicated that from the 90s:
As seen above, it is clear that manufacturers with CCAs are enjoying reduced energy bills per year whilst avoiding the levy that could have been charged on the saved energy.
Greater energy efficiency is also encouraged by the UK emissions trading scheme. This is realized through a mechanism that is market based. From the two incentives discussed above, that is, market incentives of emissions trading and incentives of the CCP, energy efficiency can be achieved through the implementation of best practice.
The food manufacturing, just like any industry produces waste in large numbers. This is a challenge to sustainability in the aforementioned sector because the wastes come from two different parts of the process one in packaging while the other from the industry. A survey conducted by the Environment Agency (EA) in 1999 showed the cumulative industrial and commercial wastes in Wales and England to be around 73 million tonnes, with 7 million tonnes coming from the drink, food, and tobacco manufacturing.
As a result of the above, the waste strategy of the government released in 2000 expounds on the need for strategies for waste management so as to promote sustainable waste management. They include:
The waste disposal alternative (landfills) have been reduced significantly considering the negative impacts it has to the environment. The EU landfill directive stipulates a reduction of two-thirds of the wastes being emptied at landfills by the end of 2020. The landfill tax is an advantage to waste recovery and reduction. The rate is expected to increase by 5 euros per ton each year until it gets to 35 euros per ton. This is later ploughed back into the business to help them be more efficient and also in waste management, this will be done by BREW (Business Resource Efficiency and Waste program). Management of solid and liquid waste enhances the efficiency of the process and also encourages a circular economy because chances of contamination of the good food by waste products that can lead to poor manufacturing standards.
References
Baldwin, C., 2011. Sustainability in the Food Industry. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Clute, M., 2008. Food Industry Quality Control Systems. Florida: CRC Press.
Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, 2006. Food Industry Sustainability Strategy. London: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
Dincer, I., Midilli , A., Hepbasli, A. & Karakoc, H. T., 2009. Global Warming: Engineering Solutions. Berlin: Springer Science & Business Media.
European Union, 2016. Waste. [Online]
Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/landfill_index.htm
[Accessed 20 July 2018].
Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Environment, F. a. R. A. C., 2013. House of Commons – Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee: Implementation of the Common Agricultural Policy in England 2014 – 2020 – HC 745. London: The Stationery Office.
Great Britain: Department of Energy and Climate Change, 2013. HM Government: Government Response to the Fifth Annual Progress Report of the Committee on Climate Change: Meeting the Carbon Budgets – 2013 Progress Report to Parliament: Meeting the Carbon Budgets – 2013 Progress Report to Parliament. London: The Stationery Office.
Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Environmental Audit Committee, 2008. Reducing carbon emissions from UK business: the role of the climate change levy and agreements, second report of session 2007-08, report, together with formal minutes, oral and written evidence. London: The Stationery Office.
Leslie, P. T., 2013. Sustainability. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Murphy, F., McDonnell, K. & Fagan, C., 2014. Sustainability and Environmental issues in Food processing. In: S. Clark, S. Jung & B. Lamsal, eds. Food Processing: Principles and Applications. New Jersey: John, Wiley & Sons, pp. 528-569.
Ole Jørgen Hanssen, P. E. I. G.-H. P. K. N. L.-C. K. S.-O. K. S. M. S. Å. S. E. S., 2015. Food Redistribution in the Nordic Region: Experiences and results from a pilot study. Copenhagen: Nordic Council of Ministers.
Pichtel, J., 2014. Waste Management Practices. 2nd ed. Florida: CRC Press.
Priestley, S., 2016. Food Waste , London: House of Commons Library .
Shih , K. & Prasad, M. N., 2016. Environmental Materials and Waste: Resource Recovery and Pollution Prevention. New York: Elsevier Science.
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