Wednesday, 09 June 2021
One third of all food produced globally ends up as waste, which equates to millions of tonnes of food wasted around the world every year.
The Food Innovation Centre, based at the University of Nottingham, has turned the spotlight on the issue in the latest in a series of factsheets.
Designed to help SMEs in the food and drink sector cut their waste, the Food Waste Management and Valorisation factsheet features useful information on the benefits of reducing waste, including how to calculate the cost of waste, supply chain risks, how it can affect customer satisfaction, the environmental issues, and the legal and policy case.
It lists five key areas for businesses to target and five key actions to tackle food waste.
Richard Worrall, who runs the Driving Research and Innovation project at the Food Innovation Centre, said: “The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimates that food waste causes a global economic, environmental and social cost of $2.6 trillion a year and is responsible for 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
“In the UK, WRAP estimates that annual food waste from UK households, hospitality and food services, food manufacturers, retail and wholesale sectors totals around 9.5 million tonnes and has a value of over £19 billion a year. It’s associated with more than 25 million tonnes of greenhouse gases emissions.
“Food waste is a huge issue and it’s something that the Food Innovation Centre is keen to help reduce. We’ve worked on a number of projects with SMEs to help them cut their waste or to make new products from by-products that would otherwise have gone to waste.”
One SME that has taken advantage of the free support offered to Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire food and drink businesses by the Food Innovation Centre is Nottingham-based SPG Innovation, which specialises in the commercialisation of Intellectual Property in food, life sciences and agritech.
Innovation manager at SPG Innovation, Rebecca McDowell, said: “It’s great to have a resource like the Food Innovation Centre available to help us and other SME’s with key issues such as waste reduction.”
The Food Innovation Centre, based at the Bioenergy and Brewing Science building at the University of Nottingham’s Sutton Bonington campus, offers free support to eligible small and medium-sized food and drink manufacturers in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire under the Driving Research and Innovation project - a three-year project that runs until the end of December 2022. Part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) via the D2N2 LEP, the project is run by the Food Innovation Centre at the University of Nottingham School of Biosciences, in conjunction with the Chemistry Innovation Laboratory in the School of Chemistry and Institute for Advanced Manufacturing and in association with the Midlands Engine. It is a unique collaboration project that provides free specialist innovation support to small and medium-sized businesses.
It has provided free support to almost 200 small and medium-sized food and drink manufacturers in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire so far, with new product development, processing, packaging and a whole lot more.
For more information about the Food Innovation Centre, to access the Food Waste Management and Valorisation factsheet, or to get in touch with experts who can help with the issue, visit https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/biosciences/facilities/food-innovation-centre.aspx
Story credits
More information is available from Richard Worrall, University of Nottingham on richard.worrall@nottingham.ac.uk
Notes to editors:
About the University of Nottingham
Ranked 32 in Europe and 16th in the UK by the QS World University Rankings: Europe 2024, the University of Nottingham is a founding member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities. Studying at the University of Nottingham is a life-changing experience, and we pride ourselves on unlocking the potential of our students. We have a pioneering spirit, expressed in the vision of our founder Sir Jesse Boot, which has seen us lead the way in establishing campuses in China and Malaysia - part of a globally connected network of education, research and industrial engagement.
Nottingham was crowned Sports University of the Year by The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024 – the third time it has been given the honour since 2018 – and by the Daily Mail University Guide 2024.
The university is among the best universities in the UK for the strength of our research, positioned seventh for research power in the UK according to REF 2021. The birthplace of discoveries such as MRI and ibuprofen, our innovations transform lives and tackle global problems such as sustainable food supplies, ending modern slavery, developing greener transport, and reducing reliance on fossil fuels.
The university is a major employer and industry partner - locally and globally - and our graduates are the second most targeted by the UK's top employers, according to The Graduate Market in 2022 report by High Fliers Research.
We lead the Universities for Nottingham initiative, in partnership with Nottingham Trent University, a pioneering collaboration between the city’s two world-class institutions to improve levels of prosperity, opportunity, sustainability, health and wellbeing for residents in the city and region we are proud to call home.
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