2Sisters joins industry collective looking to tackle food waste

UK meat processing giant 2Sisters has joined the Friends of Champions 12.3, a group of the world’s leading food firm CEOs that aims to address the issue of global food waste.

The Friends of Champions 12.3, which is chaired by Tesco CEO Dave Lewis, seeks to reduce global food waste by 50% by 2030. Companies in the group share innovative solutions and collaborate with each other to achieve the goal, as laid out in the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12.3.

SDG 12.3 states: “By 2030, halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses.”

Boparan Holdings president Ranjit Singh Boparan, whose company owns 2Sisters, said of the decision: “We believe there is a global responsibility to ensure that food suitable for human consumption is kept within the supply chain. With 8.4m people in the UK struggling to put enough food on the table, it is not acceptable that food is going to waste. ​

“At 2Sisters we recognise there is not a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to tackling this issue and we’ll therefore continue to look at a number of different initiatives across our operations to find opportunities for positive change.” ​

The company has reportedly contributed towards the reduction of food waste already through its partnership with UK food waste campaign group FareShare. 2Sisters donated around 200,000 meals to UK charities during the Christmas period 2017.

Included in the figure is 15,000 meals, which the company donated to FareShare Cymru in Wales specifically. FareShare Cymru Manager Sarah Germain said: “The food has made a huge difference and instead of being wasted it’s now helping to feed thousands of people across south-east Wales who need it most.”

In February, Aldi announced that the supermarket giant had joined the Friends of Champions 12.3 in an effort to reduce food waste across its business.