Scotland's first food and drink industry environmental sustainability strategy launched

The Scottish food and drink industry has been identified as a priority sector in delivering sustainable economic growth. The industry target of £12.5bn by 2017 will be surpassed early given the current value of £12.4bn, while exports have grown by more than 50% in the last five years. The new strategy recognises the importance of sustainability to the future of the Scottish food and drink industry to deliver its growth ambition. It aims to drive the industry to become environmentally and economically sustainable while promoting the sharing of best practice and collaborative working to achieve its objectives across the supply chain. The Scottish Government and Zero Waste Scotland welcomed the strategy and the work Scotland Food & Drink and partners will be doing to proactive encourage the industry to realise the benefits of sustainability in their businesses, working closely with partners to ensure the appropriate support and access to the partners’ accumulated knowledge and experience is available. The strategy focuses on five core themes which concern the efficient use of resources, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, waste (including recycling and sending less to landfill), reducing the impact of transport and making businesses more resilient to climate change. A set of commitments have been set in order to benchmark progress against the sustainability ambition annually.