While food labelling for nutrition has made great progress in the UK, environmental labelling has fallen by the wayside. If consumers are to make informed choices, they need information.
Mockup environmental label
Producers already provide nutritional information, to print one more label should be no problem. Arguments about space and information overload are covered in the 2008 report.
One important decision would be which environmental impacts should be highlighted. The mockup above shows a variety of measures that could be included. Here are some ideas of impact measures that could be used;
Carbon Dioxide – Use the Carbon Trust method to include; Ingredients, manufacturing, distribution, storage, consumer use, disposal.
Water – If not covered by the carbon figure. The carbon figure may include the energy embodied in the water by treatment and transport. However water use is also important where water is not plentiful and is diverted away from natural watercourses causing ecosystem damage.
Land – This covers efficiency of land use, potential loss of biodiversity and pesticide use.
Packaging – Could be a simple packing weight, or a weighted score including weight vs weight of product, energy, material use, re-use/recycling potential.
Number of Earths (Sustainability) – Given rate we consume this product, how many Earths are required for such use to be sustainable.
A simple A to E scale, giving products one easy to spot rating. This kind of system is already in use for outdoor equipment at a large retailer in the UK.
Producers would need to be provided with simple tools and guidelines to help calculate the impacts of their product.
Smaller, local producers may find favour in this system. Due to reduced food miles, their Carbon measure should be comparatively lower than international producers.
Lots of research exists on this topic. It needs a brave decision from policy makes to implement the research. Is this something we in Wales can lead the way on?
]]>Over 600,000 tonnes of food is thrown away by UK restaurants every year. That’s the equivalent of 40 000 double decker buses!
Llangollen Friends of the Earth supplied all of the Town’s biggest restaurants with an initial batch of boxes and promotional material, in the hope that they will encourage diners to take home anything they cannot eat.
It is hoped that the promotion of the boxes will remove the embarrassment felt by some diners that prevents them from asking for a doggy bag.
Restaurant owners felt that throwing excellent food away was a scandal, “Our food is excellent, and really we don’t throw that much away, when we do have to throw something away, it really does feel like such a shame”.
Local Friends of the Earth member, Warren Davies, explained, “We’ve encouraged the restaurants to promote our boxes so that their customers feel at ease asking to take food home. Restaurants and their chefs hate to see their excellent food go to waste, and would much prefer it to be taken home”.
Participating restaurants in Llangollen are; Manorhaus, Tyn Y Wern, The Cornmill, Gales wine bar, and The Gallery. Other restaurants are also looking to take part soon.
We now have access to £50 worth of food and drink from our local Coop. On a local, national and international basis, the Coop have a fantastic reputation for helping support social and environmental causes.
To find out more about The Cooperative’s principles click here: http://www.co-operative.coop/join-the-revolution/our-plan/
]]>Hosted by Llangollen Friends of the Earth to celebrate the start of the UN Climate Talks in South Africa.
Open invite to all!
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