Too Good To Go BlogWhat is Mandatory Food Waste Reporting?

The UK Government’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is currently considering introducing Mandatory food waste reporting.

Up until now, the UK Government has opted against requiring businesses to take action instead relying on voluntary approaches.

Mandatory food waste reporting would bring food waste reduction best practice into law, following the Target, Measure, Act approach set out by the World Resources Institute, WRAP and others.

This policy would mean that food businesses would be required to report their levels of food waste and surplus to the Environment Agency on an annual basis. The Environment Agency would then publish the data where it would be available for public consumption.

The policy would follow the broad principles of the food waste hierarchy, which sets out the best environmental options for dealing with waste, with the hope that each year businesses will take steps to move their waste up the hierarchy to create a more circular economy.

The Government believes that to achieve the Target of reducing food waste by 50% by 2030, it might have to require businesses to Measure and report food waste so they will Act by taking steps to reduce it.

What would mandatory food waste reporting look like in practice for obligated businesses?

Businesses in scope of the regulations would be required to report their waste and surpluses annually to the Environment Agency.

In 2022 Defra consulted on applying reporting requirements to either just large, or large and medium food businesses. Small businesses would be exempt.

• Large businesses are defined as having a £36m+ turnover AND 250+ employees
• Medium businesses are defined as meeting two of the following criteria:
  • Annual turnover between £10.2m and £35.9m
  • Annual balance sheet total between £5.1 million and £17.9 million
  • Between 50 and 249 employees

It is expected that the reporting framework will follow the current WRAP Food Waste Reduction Roadmap reporting mechanism very closely. Many businesses already report their waste to WRAP and the Government is unlikely to want to over complicate processes.

Currently businesses who participate in voluntary reporting fill out a spreadsheet and send it to WRAP. This data capture form asks for businesses to note the tonnages of food waste and its eventual destination.

If the process were to become mandatory, businesses would need to report on their surpluses and the eventual destination of waste on an annual basis.

What are the benefits of the mandatory food waste reporting?

There are several benefits to mandatory food waste reporting:

• Upon seeing where there is waste, businesses will reduce it, improving efficiency and productivity.
• Mandatory food waste reporting can help food businesses cut costs. 99% of businesses have a positive ROI and 50% see a £14 return for every £1 invested in food waste reduction .
• Many large businesses support the policy. Earlier this year, Too Good To Go coordinated an open letter sent to Government signed by around 35 leading businesses calling for the policy’s introduction.
• Consumers would be able to make informed decisions based on public reporting.
• It could lead to greater surplus redistribution and food being available for consumers at lower prices.
• It will help the environment, reducing land use, water use and CO2 emissions.

When might we see the mandatory food waste reporting policy introduced?

From what we’ve heard from official sources, the short answer is any time now!

The long answer is that this policy has been in progress since 2018.

In 2023 after consulting with industry, the previous Government decided not to introduce it despite 99% of consultees being in favour. Upon a legal challenge, in October 2023 the Government agreed to revisit the decision.

The Government carried out a further data collection exercise through early 2024 in order to gather information about how the policy might work in practice.

Since then we’ve had an election and we have a new Government and a new Defra Secretary of State, Steve Reed MP. Steve Reed has set out that one of his priorities is to create a zero waste economy. Food waste should almost certainly form part of this commitment.

With data gathered, and new Ministers being briefed, it should not be long until a decision is made.

How can my business prepare for reporting requirements?

It is worth thinking about the steps you can take immediately to reduce your food waste.

You may wish to read up on the best practice. Consider looking at WRAPs guidance as a starting point, beginning to measure your food waste, and thinking about how you can prevent food waste from being created.

And of course, consider working with organisations like Too Good To Go to ensure that surplus food does not end up as waste.

Too Good To Go would be happy to discuss how your business can put in place a plan to reduce waste. Get in touch with us here .