New forum launched to tackle life-cycle sustainability of products

Thu 21 June 2012 View all news

The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) has brought together more than 80 organisations who will take a collaborative approach to cut the life-cycle impacts of products sold in the UK. The Product Sustainability Forum (PSF) includes household names, trade associations and other stakeholder bodies.

The PSF's members believe that apart from reducing costs by sharing best practice on supply line efficiency, they will make their businesses leaner and more sustainable in the light of future resource scarcity and increased costs.

The forum, which has been set up by WRAP following discussions with industry and government, is chaired by WRAP chief executive, Dr Liz Goodwin.

Dr Goodwin said: “The scale of the challenge is enormous. For example, the British Retail Consortium estimates that the retail sector alone accounts for around 3.5% of the UK’s carbon emissions, and the retail supply chain for more than 30%."

“This is the first collaboration of its kind in the UK. It’s pretty unusual – if not unique – to see so many major organisations and brands working alongside one another and sharing best practice in order to find ways of making better use of all our resources.”

Greenhouse gas emissions are not the only impacts to be assessed and reduced; there are also water use, reliance on raw materials, waste and packaging to come under the spotlight.

The following organisations have supported the Product Sustainability Forum since its inception in 2011:

Firms:
• Alliance Boots
• ASDA
• B&Q
• Coca Cola
• Co-operative
• Crown Paints
• Heineken
• John Lewis
• Kelloggs
• Kraft Foods
• Marks & Spencer
• Morrisons
• Muller Dairies
• Nestle
• Premier Foods
• Proctor & Gamble
• Sainsbury's
• Tesco
• Unilever
• Waitrose
• Warburtons

Trade Associations:
• British Retail Consortium
• British Soft Drinks Association
• Chilled Food Association
• Food & Drink Federation
• Wine & Spirit Trade Association

Professional bodies:
• Business in the Community
• Carbon Trust
• Energy Saving Trust
• Friends of the Earth
• Forum for the Future
• Green Alliance
• Institute of Environmental Management & Assessment
• Resource Futures
• Sustainable Consumption Institute Manchester
• Waste Watch
• WWF

The Product Sustainability Forum is also supported by Defra, the Scottish government and the Welsh government. 


Related Links

< Back to news list