Brief Description

WRAP’s vision is a world in which resources are used sustainably so that people and planet thrive.  Our mission is to accelerate the move to a sustainable, resource-efficient economy through:
•	Re-inventing how we design, produce and sell products through product and process innovation and supply chain collaboration.
•	Rethinking how we use and consume products through consumer campaigns and enabling collaborative change by businesses.
•	Re-defining what is possible through recycling and re-use through market and infrastructure development and improved collections. 

WRAP Global focuses on tackling food waste, plastic pollution and textiles in order to deliver long-term, positive impact for the environment and society, and deliver Sustainable Development Goal 12: Responsible Consumption.  Specifically, we are committed to delivering:

12.3 - By 2030, halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses.

12.5 - By 2030, substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and re-use.

Food

We live in a world where millions go hungry, while a third of the food produced globally is wasted.  The food wasted worldwide is responsible for 8% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Meeting the food demand alone for 2050, using today’s methods, could increase the global temperature by 2⁰C, the threshold for dangerous climate change.  An area the size of China is needed to grow the food that is wasted.  Food contributes to about 60-80% of biodiversity loss. 

Food waste is a growing concern in many low and middle income countries, due to increasing prosperity and poverty alleviation leading to diet and consumption shifts, with increased food waste and GHGs emitted.  However, many of these countries do not recognise food waste reduction as a way to mitigate climate change, or have the funding required to measure, analyse and take actions to prevent food waste.  

Plastics

Today, 32% of all plastic packaging put on the global market annually leaks from (escapes) collection systems. A significant share of this ends up in the ocean. Each year, at least 8 million tonnes of plastics leak into the ocean — which is equivalent to dumping the contents of one garbage truck into the ocean every minute. If no action is taken, this is expected to increase to two per minute by 2030 and four per minute by 2050. Estimates suggest that plastic packaging represents the major share of this leakage. Plastic packaging is considered the biggest source of ocean plastics, due to its sheer volumes (it is the single biggest plastics application) and because of its nature as a much dispersed, low-value stream. 

Textiles

Textiles contribute about 800 - 1,715m tonnes of carbon emissions a year; this is about 2-4% of global GHG emissions. This is related to energy use in the industry; cotton, rubber and natural fibre crops account for about 3% of land use and associated emissions, e.g. from fertiliser use and deforestation.

In spite of occupying 2.4% of global cropland, cotton accounts for 22.5% of the world’s insecticides and 10% of all pesticide use, with detrimental impacts on biodiversity. Water and plastics pollution are further causes of biodiversity losses.  An estimated 17- 20% of industrial water pollution comes from textile dyeing. Similarly to food, growing cotton also contributes to nitrogen and fertiliser overloading, and similarly to plastics, polymer-based textiles lead to microfibers being released into the environment, especially the world’s oceans, making its way into the food system with potential health implications that are not yet fully understood.

Vision & Mission

THE OBJECTS FOR WHICH WRAP IS ESTABLISHED ARE:

1) THE PROTECTION AND PRESERVATION OF THE ENVIRONMENT FOR THE PUBLIC BENEFIT, IN PARTICULAR BUT WITHOUT LIMITATION BY:

I) THE PROMOTION AND ENCOURAGEMENT OF SUSTAINABLE RESOURCE USE BY MEANS OF THE PROMOTION AND FACILITATION OF SUSTAINABLE PRODUCT DESIGN, WASTE MINIMISATION, RE-USE, RECYCLING AND REPROCESSING OF WASTE MATERIALS AND SUSTAINABLE WASTE MANAGEMENT;

II) THE PROVISION AND ENCOURAGEMENT OF EXPERTISE, KNOWLEDGE AND BEST PRACTICE IN RELATION TO SUSTAINABLE RESOURCE USE;

III) THE IMPROVEMENT OF UNDERSTANDING OF THE WASTE STREAM AND THE OPPORTUNITIES FOR RE-USE, RECYCLING AND REPROCESSING;

AND 'SUSTAINABLE' MEANS ABLE TO MEET THE NEEDS OF THE PRESENT WITHOUT COMPROMISING THE ABILITY OF FUTURE GENERATIONS TO MEET THEIR OWN NEEDS.

Aims & Activities

Working in over 25 countries, WRAP Global operates in a unique way, building an evidence base and then convening the right people in business, government and the community to work on specific problems, overcoming market failures and developing practical solutions that work and make a real difference. While there are many environmental organisations actively engaged in raising awareness of resource sustainability issues, WRAP’s expertise and focus is in helping organisations and individuals take the journey from awareness to action. WRAP provides information, tools, advice and help to businesses and consumers to make decisions, often collectively, that leads to action, and ultimately results in positive impacts on society and real change for the environment.

To play our role in putting the world on trajectory to delivering SDGs 12.3 and 12.5, WRAP Global aims to:
•	Influence countries responsible for 130 Mt/y to develop a strategy for food loss and waste prevention. (Equivalent to 10% of the world’s food waste).
•	Influence country strategies responsible for increasing recycling by  5 Mt/y

Facts & Figures

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Awards

State-of-the-Art Partnership of the Year Award by P4G in 2018