Tesco, Waitrose and waste companies questioned on food waste
11 December 2013
The House of Lords EU Sub-Committee on Agriculture, Fisheries, Environment and Energy will take evidence from representatives of Tesco, Waitrose and the waste industry as part of their inquiry into the EU’s contribution to Food waste prevention.
- Parliament TV: Watch the evidence session - Tuesday 10 December
- Parliament TV: Watch the evidence session - Wednesday 11 December
- Inquiry: The EU's contribution to food waste prevention
- EU Sub-Committee D: Agriculture, Fisheries, Environment and Energy
Witnesses
Tuesday 10 December
Committee Room 1, Palace of Westminster
At 10.15am
- Matt Simister, Group Food Sourcing Director, Tesco
- Mark Little, Food Waste Reduction Manager, Tesco
At 11.00am
- Quentin Clark, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility, Waitrose
Wednesday 11 December
Committee Room 3, Palace of Westminster
At 10.30am
- Roy Hathaway, Europe Policy Advisor, Environmental Services Association (ESA)
- Stuart Hayward-Higham, Technical Development Director, SITA UK
- Robert Hunt, Executive Director, Veolia
At 11.30am
- Charlotte Morton, Chief Executive, Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Association (ADBA)
- Allan Buckwell, Senior Research Fellow, Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP)
Likely Questions
On Tuesday, the Committee will question the witnesses on the level of food waste within their businesses – Tesco recently announced 28,500 tonnes of food was wasted in the first six months of 2013, but Waitrose does not publish figures - what role supermarkets can play in reducing food waste at the beginning of the food chain and how they ensure that unsold but edible food is redistributed and what legal obstacles prevent them from doing more of this.
On Wednesday, the Committee will ask the witnesses about how the waste and anaerobic digestion industries encourage waste prevention, how levels of food waste can be more accurately monitored through more separate collections of food waste from other waste, what role the EU can play in encouraging research and innovation to reduce food waste and how food waste should be defined at the EU Level.