WRAP s UK Annual Conference 2013 - Dr Liz Goodwin review of the year speech Introduction Good afternoon everyone, and thank you for staying on for the afternoon session. And thank you Peter for those comments. I echo what you say about the professionalism and expertise of WRAP s staff. It has been an eventful year. A year of challenge most definitely. A year of much change too. Crucially, neither of these factors has been at the expense of progress. Because adapting to challenge goes to the heart of what WRAP is about. Quite simply it is in our DNA. We work with partners to tackle challenges through using our leading research to develop practical solutions, so we are well placed to deal with it. In my short slot this afternoon, I would like to cover 3 things: - To give you an overview of some key highlights from the year - I ll mention the Defra review which of course took some of our attention during the year - And I ll talk a bit about the future and our direction of travel UK highlights So, some highlights from the last finacial year. Our Valuing our clothes ground-breaking research, published in July last year brought sharply to focus that the make, use, dispose model is itself for only for disposal. The research looked at the whole journey from raw materials to manufacture, purchase, use and disposal of clothing.
WRAP found that a staggering 238m worth of textiles were thrown out and sent to landfill, yet all of this could have been re-used, recycled or sent for energy recovery. What s more the research found that there is 30 billion unused clothing in UK s wardrobes. By increasing the use of clothing by an extra nine months we could reduce water, carbon and waste impacts by up to 20-30% each and save 5 billion. So, the potential for new business models for retailers is huge. But it takes a team effort and will by all parties to make it happen. By sharing common goals, businesses are able to reap the best returns, and so WRAP s focus has been to identify market failures, and to bring industry together to solve the challenges. Another first from WRAP relates to the Product Sustainability Forum, launched by WRAP in 2012 I see this forum has having massive potential to drive improvements in the future and I will do all I can to help it flourish and grow in the way the members want it to. As part of this initiative, we set up a global network that brings together organisations from around the world to share expertise and improve the environmental performance of every-day goods. The Federation House Commitment (FHC) voluntary agreement in the food manufacturing sector goes from strength to strength. By the end of the financial year, progress showed a 14.4% reduction in water use. Since that time we have reported further gains. And by the way, to give context, a 14.4% reduction in the amount of water saved could fill nearly 2,400 Olympic-sized swimming pools. Our ground-breaking work on the hospitality and food service sector identified financial opportunities worth hundreds of millions of pounds to businesses. Through working with industry the new agreement therefore looked to address this, aiming to cut food and associated packaging waste by 5% (a CO2e
reduction of 234,000 tonnes), the equivalent of approximately 100 million meals. Over the year, the number of signatories grew to over 100, from global multinational brands through to bespoke hotels and government departments. WRAP s role is to work across the sector and accelerate the good practice that is already going on through collaborative working and behaviour change. So as one voluntary agreement began, in the last financial year we said goodbye to arguably WRAP s most recognised voluntary agreement, the Halving Waste to Landfill Commitment. During its life, the agreement received more than 800 signatories and WRAP s procurement wording influenced construction projects exceeding 40 billion. The commitment acquired real momentum with the sector starting to expect their sub-contractors to be signatories it gave us challenges in terms of supporting a wide range of different sorts and sizes of organisations but also meant the commitment had much greater reach than might otherwise have been the case. Staying with UK wide projects, as I mentioned this morning, in February we published the 2020 vision to paint a picture of what the UK could look like in 2020. WRAP worked closely with London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) to deliver a sustainable London 2012 games. Our experience tells us that when it comes to the events sector, there is much to be gained in terms of awareness around the value of waste as a resource. Whereas household recycling rates sit at around 44%, in the majority of cases, the figure for events is more like 15%, with large amounts of waste being sent to landfill. When you think about all the events that take place, be it music, sport, or just about any gathering of people in large volumes, then a lot of waste is going to landfill.
So, in March at Lords Cricket Ground, alongside then Defra Resource Management Minister, Lord de Mauley, I launched the new events industry roadmap Zero Waste events: a 2020 vision. It has one main clear but challenging objective, and that is to have no waste being sent to landfill from UK events by the end of the decade. 2020 is gearing up to be a big year indeed, with partnership key to future success. The Courtauld Commitment is an example of partnership working at its best. Run by WRAP, the first two phases have delivered significant reductions not least in food and packaging waste, and the results for second phase are to be published soon. During the past year we developed and launched the third phase of the agreement, which launched in May Courtauld 3 has a strong focus on tackling food waste in all three targets: helping consumer to waste less in the home, assisting businesses to reduce ingredient and product waste in the supply chain, and, by optimising packaging. We are delighted that over 45 retailers, brands and manufacturers have signed up to this challenge. This level of commitment at the start of the agreement reinforces that many businesses now realise that achieving resource efficiency is good for the bottom line, as well as the environment. But it s not just businesses that benefit. The 1.6 billion attributed savings also includes significant savings for consumers and local authorities. And whilst we are on the subject of helping consumers to save money, earlier this year we launched the Love Food Hate Waste app, allowing consumers to access tips and hints to avoid wasting food, whilst on the go. Nation specific Turning to nation specific work, There were a number of key initiatives undertaken by our Zero Waste Scotland team to help Scottish Government s
ambitious agenda and we grew our team in Scotland to respond to the growth in ambition. For example: The innovative new support programme, Resource Efficient Scotland, managed by Zero Waste Scotland programme launched just in time for the new financial year. This ground-breaking programme brings together expertise on managing energy, water and materials costs into a single service for the first time, making it easier for Scottish organisations and businesses, particularly Small and Medium Enterprises, to get the help they need and make even bigger savings. Zero Waste Scotland also offered an exciting and significant funding package to support Local Authorities in the separate collection of food waste. The programme will help deliver the aims of the Scottish Government s Zero Waste Plan and assist Authorities in meeting their obligations under the Waste Regulations 2012. In the last financial year, Zero Waste Scotland also trained 450 volunteers to help communities reduce their waste who in turn donated 10,000 hours to local groups. In England, WRAP s Local Partnership Advisors trained over 3,500 delegates from 100 organisations, whilst our partnership with Greater London Volunteering encouraged nearly 3,000 people to become Food Waste Champions, cascading their knowledge to an estimated 40,000 others in their local communities. WRAP also supported the South East Seven group of Local Authorities in identifying major opportunities to reduce the costs of waste collection through collaboration and to increase the value they obtain for recycled materials. In Wales, WRAP Cymru launched new consultancy support for manufacturing SMEs following the success of the European-funded ReMake project. And in Northern Ireland, WRAP administered the successful Rethink Waste Capital Fund for the Department of the Environment to support Councils in
Northern Ireland in introducing initiatives that will boost waste recycling and reuse activity. WRAP is also broadening its horizons, forming important international partnerships to progress our work. For example, we became a founder partner of the United Nations Environment Programme's Think Eat Save campaign designed to tackle global food waste and increase food security. Funding We have built a strong reputation and track record of success. But in the future we will have to deliver with far less funding from our traditionally main funder, the UK Government. As we moved into this financial year we faced decisions from our then main funder Defra as to our future funding in line with the government department spending cuts. This funding reduction from Defra is clearly significant but is neither unexpected nor surprising given the UK Government s commitment to reducing the budget deficit. WRAP was determined to play its part in that, and we actively engaged with Defra during the process. We will still be receiving significant funding which will allow WRAP to continue to make a major contribution to boosting economic growth and achieving improved use of resources. Defra s confidence in us and our work echoes what many of our partners have been saying about the value they place on WRAP s ability to deliver two of Defra s core objectives - boosting the economy and improving the environment and especially our ability to turn insight into practical action that makes a difference. I was very pleased by much of the feedback we got from partners and other stakeholders as part of the review Defra carried out. I am delighted that Defra has recognised the value of the role WRAP can play. I am also pleased they recognise that we need to be adequately funded, to make the biggest impact and deliver the best return.
So as funding reduces, new avenues of opportunities need to be explored and WRAP is working to address this by adapting to the new world. We need to move to a place where we are less reliant on central government funding, and increase our international presence and base of funding streams. This means that projects will be more targeted and limited in scope. Whatever the funder, WRAP needs to keep demonstrating that it is value for money. This consists of delivering what has been promised and doing it in an efficient way. Conclusion So that is a whistle-stop tour of achievements and actions for the last financial year, plus some thoughts on the road ahead. So much has been achieved, and has continued to do so throughout 2013, more of which I will share with you at next year s conference. Looking ahead, WRAP will continue to help our funders achieve their policy goals through utilising our expertise and leading-edge research to deliver innovative solutions. However, we do need to change as an organisation in light of the economic conditions we face. So we will work on business development with the view of being increasingly international in scope. In doing so the aim is to be the natural partner for choice for businesses wanting to achieve the circular economy model. Our offer is that we will continue to be the organisation that can deliver practical implementation of the circular economy and sustainable consumption and production. We must be fast, resilient, considered - able to deliver results based on expertise and leading edge research. After all, as Aristotle said:
Excellence is never an accident. It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, and intelligent execution. Thank you.