HAMPSHIRE County Council, together with county waste partnership Project Integra, is joining forces with national and international food and drink companies to help tackle waste across the UK.

Working together with organisations such as Waitrose, Nestle and Pizza Hut, the partnership has signed up to the 2025 Courtauld Commitment, to make food and drink production and consumption more sustainable.

With more than two billion extra people on the planet to feed by 2050, the Courtauld Commitment 2025 is the world-leading voluntary agreement, run by the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), working along the entire food chain aiming to reduce the environmental impact of our food and drink, from farm to fork and beyond. The commitment has three ambitious targets:

* A 20 per cent reduction in the volume of food and drink waste in the UK;

* A 20 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas intensity of food and drink consumed in the UK;

* A reduction in impact associated with water use in the supply chain

The county council and Project Integra will be inspiring action and evoking change to help people get more value from the food and drink they buy, and how to find ways to make best use of food without throwing it away, linking to the well-known national Love Food Hate Waste initiative.

By being part of this wider network of over 100 businesses and local authorities, Hampshire will have access to funding to build on and launch new initiatives to support the successful Smart Living campaign, a waste prevention and lifestyle initiative.

In its first year, Smart Living has already contributed to a reduction in overall household waste of 7,600 tonnes.