VisitEngland joins WRAP food waste reduction scheme

‘A world without waste’ is the stated ambition of the WRAP project, which was established 12 years ago to help recycling take off in the UK and create a market for recycled materials. Now its extensive roll-call of prestigious supporters has been strengthened by VisitEngland, which has signed up to WRAP’s Hospitality and Food Agreement.

Launched in 2000, WRAP was created in recognition of the fact that waste is actually ‘stuff with value’, and that wasting resources does not make environmental or commercial sense. Over the ensuing years, the WRAP team has helped public and private sector organisations to devise strategies to deal with these issues through its expertise, research and practical advice.

WRAP’s two driving ambitions are to minimise resource usage and divert priority materials from landfill, and between 2011 and 2015 it is striving to: encourage better design and more informed competition, thereby helping everyone to waste less; make it easier to recycle, repair and re-use as much of our waste as possible, wherever we are; to enable others to recover as much value as possible from the waste that’s collected; and to assist others to keep resources moving around the economy.

In the latest stage of development for this increasingly prestigious scheme, it has been announced that VisitEngland – along with 73 leading UK hotels, pubs, restaurants, contract caterers, industry bodies and government departments – has signed up to WRAP’s Hospitality and Food Service Agreement. The primary objective of this scheme is to reduce food and associated packaging waste by 5 pc - the equivalent of approximately 100 million meals. It also aims to increase the overall rate of food and packaging waste that is being recycled or composted to 70 pc.

Visit England’s CEO, James Berresford, commented: “Encouraging businesses in hospitality to manage their waste more proactively is a step forward in tackling the causes of climate change and a significant way to help reduce the overhead costs businesses are facing. We applaud WRAP’s initiative and look forward to working with them and the sector in achieving these stretching targets.”

Introduced in 2010, Green Start is primarily an awareness-raising and business review tool available to those tourism businesses in England seeking to reduce their impact on the environment or community in which they are located. Find out more on the VisitEngland sustainability pages.