Space: The Final Frontier in the War on Waste

Roberto Matteis, of Italian stock but a German national running a Swiss-owned company in the UK, offers a personal view on logistics packaging management post-Brexit:

“Back in the early 1970s, when Britain first joined the EEC, the phrase ‘Food Mountain’ became a negative by-word in the anti-European populist press for the perceived profligacy of what was then known as the Common Market.

Little seems to have changed as the UK plans to leave what is now the EU. The press is still largely hostile to Europe, but in a post-Brexit economy, the War of Waste has become more than a sound bite around reducing the over-supply of food that, according to WRAP – the Waste and Resource Action Programme – sees UK householders throw away one third of the food that we produce.

As the UK Government agonises over whether it will be allowed to hold its cards close its chest and maintain a poker face across the negotiating table with the EU, companies are trying to maintain the ‘business as usual’ mantra realising that, whatever the outcome, they will have to keep a watchful eye on every penny.

Put another way, the ‘war on words’ has been eclipsed by the war on waste as businesses look at reducing the cost of doing business in what is likely to be a tighter-margin Post-Brexit Britain.

Industry has for a long time been looking at ways of reducing waste whether it be food, materials – such as an over-dependence on cardboard and superfluous packaging to protect and ship goods – energy, or our carbon footprint. There is a genuine technological and cerebral strategy towards more effective supply chain management and greater control over our outward and reverse logistics, all of which help retailers ‘sell more and lose less’ simply by knowing where stock is at any given time and, in the circular economy, help
reduce idling vehicles congesting our roadways, our Co2 and our over-dependence on landfill.

But more can and should be done. We can learn from history. At the time of joining the Common Market, for example, we could still return our fizzy pop bottles for cash, a practice that was not only designed to recycle our glass but also spawned many a young entrepreneurial bottle collector.

The incentivisation of returning waste packaging to retailers is not only alive and well, but also statutory in Germany. There are no wasted miles in returning packaging as it is simply done when you next do a weekly, daily or monthly groceries, and in return, shoppers receive coupons off their next bill.

In the supply chain many Europeans dispense with bulky cardboard in favour of foldable plastic totes which create more space in warehouses and vehicles meaning that this intangible entity can be better utilised and costs reduced as less becomes more. Space and its optimisation, is very much the final frontier of supply chain excellence As the UK heads towards a post Brexit and unknown future, there is comfort in the knowledge that it can at least control some of the fixed and variable costs that are more difficult to pass on to customers.”

Roberto Matteis is the General Manager of George Utz UK