Welsh food and drink companies benefit from funded waste reduction support

Welsh food and drink companies are being encouraged to take up support from a Welsh Government backed project which aims to reduce waste in the food and drink supply chain.

The call to action coincides with Love Food Hate Waste’s Food Waste Action Week 2024 (18th – 24th March), an annual campaign which brings businesses, government organisations and global partners together to work towards halving food waste by 2030.

Project HELIX, which is delivered by Food Innovation Wales, a partnership of three food centres located across Wales, offers a variety of funded waste reduction support, including waste audits, reviewing and validating waste targets, and identifying alternative uses for waste products.

ZERO2FIVE Food Industry Centre at Cardiff Metropolitan University, one of the three partner centres which form Food Innovation Wales, has already supported companies across south Wales to identify over 89,000 kilograms of avoidable food waste with a value of over £400,000.

One company to have benefited from waste support through Project HELIX is Just Love Food Company, who are based in Caerphilly and sell their award-winning range of allergy friendly celebration cakes to many of the UK’s biggest retailers and food service outlets.

ZERO2FIVE carried out an audit of Just Love’s manufacturing processes for two of their most popular products to highlight potential waste losses and production inefficiencies that could lead to increased costs and lost time and labour.

The audit data was reported back to Just Love in a way that could help them quickly and clearly understand the impact of waste on their business and highlight areas for future improvement. ZERO2FIVE also delivered a series of waste reduction workshops to staff at Just Love to help drive a change in culture throughout the company.

Mike Woods, Chief Executive of Just Love Food Company, said:

“ZERO2FIVE’s professional approach of measuring waste at each step of our production process and putting value to that waste has really helped us to understand the value of the opportunity.

“Project HELIX offers a very open and collaborative approach to sharing knowledge and questioning why waste occurs. By sharing their expertise, it will allow us to improve our capabilities and make waste reduction a natural way of operating at every level of the business.”

Another company to have benefited from waste reduction support through Project HELIX is Juvela, a Pontypool-based manufacturer of specialised gluten free foods for people diagnosed with coeliac disease.

The Waste Reduction team at ZERO2FIVE supported the company to create a bespoke tool that streamlined their recipe development process, bringing speed and precision to product trials and minimising time and raw material wastage.

Nathan Hodges, New Product Development Manager, Juvela, said:

“Thanks to ZERO2FIVE sharing their knowledge and expertise, we now have a system that not only saves us time but also reduces wasted raw materials, something that is critical in food production and new product development.”

Gavin Taylor, Senior Process Waste Reduction Technologist, ZERO2FIVE Food Industry Centre, said:

“Waste reduction and efficiency improvements are vital to the food and drink sector in Wales from both an environmental and financial sustainability perspective. The pressures on food and drink manufacturers in Wales are enormous, but Project HELIX is here to provide waste support on the factory floor.”