Campaigners have wasted little time in setting out their key asks for a new government following Labour’s victory in the UK general election. This week saw the publication of reports calling respectively for a doubling of UK fruit and vegetable production and a big increase in the farm budget to support nature-friendly farming.
Both reports are covered in greater detail in today’s Footprint news along with the findings of new research from environmental charity Hubbub into how people use and dispose of compostable packaging.
Alongside greater government spending on sustainable farming, businesses are being urged to bolster funds with investment of their own. Supermarket chain Lidl has done just that with the announcement of a £1.5bn investment in its beef chain over the next five years. Working in partnership with beef supplier, Dunbia, Lidl said farmers joining its new sustainable beef group will be financially rewarded for adopting regenerative farming techniques to improve grazing management, biodiversity, and soil and water quality parameters that are unique to each farm. Farms will also receive tailored advice to reduce their carbon emissions with Lidl and Dunbia having set a target to reduce their scope 3 emissions intensity by 28% per tonne of finished product by 2030 through the adoption of more sustainable practices.
Beef is one of the commodities in-scope of the EU’s new deforestation law which from December 30th requires companies selling a range of high-risk commodities, including cocoa, to prove their supply chains don’t contribute to the destruction of forests. Reuters reported this week that major chocolate suppliers including Nestle, Mars Wrigley and Ferrero have backed the upcoming ban despite calls to delay it from some business groups. In a joint paper shared with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s team, and seen by the news agency, the businesses said they supported the law but urged the EU to do more to help companies meet its December start date. Meanwhile, the future of the UK’s own deforestation law hangs in the balance after it failed to make it into the statute book during the previous parliament.
One policy that will be legislated for during this parliament, according to the recent King’s Speech, is the requirement for every primary school in England to offer free breakfast clubs. That links tenuously to the fact that primary school children in Wales already benefit from universal free school meals, however a substantial number of primary school children continue to eat a packed lunch instead. A pilot programme carried out by Nesta, the innovation agency for social good, in collaboration with Caerphilly County Borough Council and Torfaen County Borough Council, sought to increase uptake of free school meals in six primary schools in Wales by implementing an opt-out system over a period of a month rather than the current opt-in approach. Five out of the six schools that took part in the pilot observed a higher increase in school meal uptake compared to non-participating schools, albeit in most cases this increased uptake didn’t sustain three months after the intervention period had ended. Researchers noted that the opt-out approach saved parents considerable cost and time and also encouraged children to try new foods.
Finally this week, Wrap has launched a new reusable and refillable packaging guide for UK retailers, brands and their value chains as part of efforts to boost adoption of reuse schemes. It said adopting reuse and refill models now would help businesses comply with future policies aimed at reducing single-use plastics, including the Global Plastics Treaty and the upcoming Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) in Europe, which are both expected to set reuse targets. Wrap called on retailers to deliver 30% of private-label product volume in reusable or refillable packaging formats by 2035.
