Resources

New research highlighting opportunities for the Hospitality and Food Service sector to reduce the amount of food left on customers plates, but still offer value for money for diners.

The research, conducted in July 2022, provides new insights into customer behaviours and attitudes to food waste when dining out.

Highlighting progress made in the third year of the Food Waste Reduction Roadmap:

• 251,000 tonnes of food worth £365 million saved from waste.
• 670,000 tonnes of GHG emissions potentially avoided.
• 145 million meals redistributed.
• Major opportunities for greater impact remain – industry action focused on Hospitality and Food Service sector and whole chain collaboration.

WRAP works with governments, businesses and citizens to create a world in which resources are used sustainably. Read our April 2020-21 annual review to learn more about our mission to accelerate the move to a sustainable, resource-efficient economy.

In June 2020, 40 key stakeholders from across the UK meat production and supply chain came together, facilitated by WRAP's Courtauld Commitment, to pledge to make the UK meat industry one of the most efficient and sustainable in the world. This summary highlights the areas of significant progress made and the areas that require greater focus.

Shaping a sustainable recovery.

The Courtauld Commitment Annual Report sets out the progress that has been made by the food and drink sector this year towards achieving the voluntary agreement’s targets and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. In yet another turbulent year for food and drink, the sector has continued  to deliver meaningful action on climate change, driving collaboration across the entire food system to measure and reduce food waste, greenhouse gas emissions and water stress.

Defining the actions the hospitality and food service sector will take to help to deliver the UK Food Waste Reduction Roadmap. New update coming Spring 2024. 

Research from WRAP in 2009 found UK hotels, pubs, restaurants and quick service restaurants disposed of 600,000 tonnes of food waste.

• Some of this is made up of things like peelings, cores and bones, but the majority is (or once was) perfectly good food. 
• Little by little all this waste adds up.
• WRAP research indicates that by not throwing away good food (and diverting food waste  such as peelings, bones etc. to anaerobic digestion) pubs restaurants and hotels in the UK could save more than￡720 million a year.

A cross-industry vision to optimise productivity and minimise waste from farm to fork.

WRAP and UK food businesses have agreed a set of common guidelines for measuring and reporting on food surplus and waste, consistent with the global Food Loss and Waste Accounting and Reporting Standard (FLW Standard).

The final report of achievements by signatories to the Hospitality and Foods Service Agreement (HaFSA).

This report is a quantification of the true cost of food waste in the UK’s Hospitality and Food Service industry.

More recent headline figures for food waste in the sector have been published in the Courtauld Commitment 2025 Milestone Progress Report.