The scheme commits companies to three new targets:

• Packaging – to reduce the weight, increase recycling rates and increase the recycled content of all grocery packaging, as appropriate. Through these measures the aim is to reduce the carbon impact of this grocery packaging by 10%.
• Household food and waste – to reduce UK household food and drink wastes by 4%.
• Supply chain product and packaging waste – to reduce traditional grocery product and packaging waste in the grocery supply chain by 5% - this includes both solid and liquid wastes.

The scheme is the second phase of the ‘Courtauld Commitment’ project which halted the growth in grocery packaging in its first phase from July 2005 to March 2010. The latest programme, which runs from this April to December 2012, could help consumers save £800m over three years by reducing the amount of food they throw away, the Government said. The commitments to tackle the environmental impact of grocery waste will also save the industry £200m and cut greenhouse gas emissions by three million tonnes over the next three years, it added.

Environment Secretary Hilary Benn said, “A fifth of household waste is packaging, and more than half of this comes from the groceries we buy. This packaging can be essential, but in many cases using less and smarter packaging can achieve the same result”.

Benn said manufacturers and retailers had already started to take action and halted the increase in packaging, and said the new commitments would see them going further. He called for more companies to sign up to the scheme in the coming months.