Waste & Resources Action Programme

• The construction sector – with more than 700 companies succeeding in halving their waste to landfill by 2012
• The retail sector – through the Courtauld Commitment, now in its third phase, food and drink organisations are working together to reduce food, packaging and supply chain waste. Signatories to the Courtauld Commitment include industry leaders such as Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda and big brands such as Unilever and Nestlé. The European Union praised phase one as an example of best practice. The phase three targets are:
• *Reduce household food and drink waste by 5% – this represents a 9% reduction in real terms to counter the expected increase in food purchased.
• *Reduce traditional grocery ingredient, product and packaging waste in the grocery supply chain by 3% – signatories will have to make an 8% reduction in real terms to counter the expected increase in production and sales.
• *Improve packaging design through the supply chain to maximise recycled content as appropriate, improve recyclability and deliver product protection to reduce food waste, while ensuring there is no increase in the carbon impact of packaging – signatories will have to make a 3% reduction in real terms to counter the expected sales increase.
• The clothing industry – through the 'Sustainable Clothing Action Plan', working together to reduce the clothing industry footprint through sustainable design, reuse and recycling.