News
News
4 Jun 2019

Company Shop Group hosts IGD & WRAP Food Waste Reduction Roadshow.

Company Shop Group, the UK’s largest commercial redistributor of surplus food and household products, hosted an IGD and WRAP Food Waste Reduction (FWR) Roadshow this week, on Tuesday, 4th June.

The FWR Roadshow took place at Company Shop Group’s headquarters in South Yorkshire, and was attended by businesses in the UK food and drink sector. It was part of a series of best practice sharing roadshows aimed at supporting businesses to implement the “Target, Measure, Act” approach to reducing food waste.

There was a packed agenda for the day, including an introduction to the Food Waste Reduction Roadmap, guidance on best-practice for accurate measuring and reporting; industry myth-busting, which was reinforced through a behind-the-scenes tour of the Company Shop Group’s distribution centre, processing facilities and superstore. Attendees also enjoyed lunch made from surplus food.

Having been at the forefront of the food waste prevention campaign for almost five decades, Company Shop Group also took the opportunity to share best practice case studies with delegates on the day to showcase the great work already being done across the industry.

The event saw delegates participate in IGD and WRAP’s workshops and looked at how the Target, Measure, Act principles could be put into practice. 95 of the UK’s largest food and drink companies and over 20 supporting organisations, including Company Shop Group, have already committed to the Food Waste Reduction Roadmap. The “Target, Measure, Act” initiative encourages businesses to publicly report their own UK company results, work towards best practice, and share successes and lessons learned.

Susan Barratt, CEO of IGD, said:

We developed a Food Waste Reduction Roadmap with WRAP because we know that this is one of the most pressing environmental and financial issues for the food and consumer goods sector.

“Cutting waste needs to be simpler, and there needs to be a consistent way for individual businesses to do this. So, it’s very encouraging to have representatives from across the industry come together with Company Shop Group to share best practice and to take action. Working together is the best way to make a real, and sustainable, change.” 

Jane Marren, Managing Director of Company Shop Group, said:

“As the largest commercial redistributor of surplus food and household products, we see the Food Waste Reduction Roadmap as a way to bring the industry closer together in order to meet the many ambitious food waste targets."

The Roadshows have provided a valuable opportunity to work even more closely with the food and drink industry and to share our advice and expertise in unlocking the full potential in surplus.

David Moon, Head of Business Collaboration WRAP, said:

“We are very pleased to work with Company Shop in delivering this important Food Waste Reduction Roadshow in South Yorkshire, and speak directly with businesses in the area about how to introduce the principles of Target, Measure Act into their operations. The Food Waste Reduction Roadmap provides the key information and steps that companies can freely, and easily use to measure how much food they are wasting in their day to day operations. This Roadshow is one of a continuing number taking place around the UK, and we are grateful to have Company Shop so active in its support.”