Tag: WRAP

Urgent action needed at scale to tackle food waste in our homes

Stuart Mitchell

Climate action NGO, WRAP, recently published updated figures for UK food waste, food-related GHG emissions, and water use linked to food production.  Food waste figures show that, whilst lower than when records began in 2007, the amount of food thrown away in our homes rose in the period 2018 – 2021 and remains by far the largest source of food waste of the UK’s 10.7Mt total. To assess trends in household food waste over time, WRAP focused on food waste collected by local authorities only to allow robust comparisons*. For…

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UK Plastics Pact latest report

Stuart Mitchell

UK Plastics Pact latest report demonstrates how important public/private partnerships are in delivering fast impact ahead of Global Plastic Treaty negotiations. Public/private partnership models, like The UK Plastics Pact, must be in the DNA of the Global Plastics Treaty, alongside binding regulatory measures, if it is to achieve its enormous task, says WRAP. 99% of problematic single-use plastic items eliminated in UK – household plastic packaging slashed by same weight as 440 male blue whales. 71% of plastic packaging is now recyclable as UK routinely designs-out hard-to-recycle plastics like black…

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Efforts to cut the environmental cost of clothing cancelled out by spiralling production

Stuart Mitchell

WRAP’s Textiles 2030 Annual Progress Report shows that brands signed up to the environmental voluntary agreement have reduced the carbon impact of the textiles they produce by 12% and water by 4% on a per tonne basis between 2019 and 2022. These impressive reductions were possible through actions taken to improve sustainability in design and manufacturing, and by increasing the amount of clothes reused and recycled. However, as production is spiralling upwards, WRAP warns that these positive steps are being cancelled out owing to a 13% increase in the volume…

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WRAP announces Circular Design Toolkit to help reduce textile’s environmental impact at the design level

Stuart Mitchell

WRAP’s Textiles 2030 agreement has launched its Circular Design Toolkit which will help textiles organisations embed circular design principles into their design and product development processes to maximise the life of garments, select the most sustainable materials and ensure they are designed to be recycled.   The Circular Design Toolkit aims to simplify the theory of circular design and break it down into a framework of more manageable actions and strategies for design and product development teams to use. Designed in collaboration with industry through the Textiles 2030’s Circular Design…

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Is the Circular Economy prejudiced?

Stuart Mitchell

WRAP calls for policies to scale up UK’s circular economy and address inequality. UK circular economy dominated by men – only one in four jobs go to women. More women in lowest paid roles – predominately second-hand sales. WRAP calls for action to address inequality in the circular economy. On Gender Equality Day at COP28 – with the Guardian reporting that only 15 out of the 133 world leaders participating in this year’s COP28 are women (11%) – climate action NGO WRAP points to disturbing data from the Office of…

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