Voluntary Agreement progress: Food and Drink sector on course for 20% water savings

It’s good to see that the issue of water and water scarcity is still getting some attention – it’s also good to see that another voluntary agreement is delivering results.

 

The Federation House Commitment (FHC), which helps manufacturers in the food and drink industry to improve their water efficiency is managed by resource efficiency agency WRAP and the Food & Drink Federation.

 

They published their annual report today. The report highlights that water use (excluding water that can be found in the actual product) has reduced by an impressive 11.9% per tonne of product despite production at signatories’ sites rising by 7.5%.

 

The report states that in 2010 FHC signatories only used 22.9 million m3 water in the manufacture of food and drink1 compared to 24.2 million m3 in 2007.

 

Of voluntary agreements, Dr Liz Goodwin, WRAP CEO, said: “It’s also encouraging to see the strong increase in signatories signing up to the agreement. The benefits of the voluntary approach are that the organisations involved secure corporate commitment to specific targets that are integrated into business strategies. Signatories also benefit from access to technical expertise and through peer working groups.”

 

In line with the Footprint Forum we staged in July this year – Water: Why Worry? – Nick Bunker, Chair of FDF’s Sustainability Steering Group and President of Kraft Foods UK & Ireland, said:  “Water scarcity is a growing risk that impacts upon everyone so I urge all food and drink manufacturers to sign up to this Commitment to improve water use efficiency and reduce the pressure on the UK’s water supplies.”

 

You can download the full  report: see Resources at the top of this post.