Food Industry Group - Industry Overview

Although the Food Manufacturing has not been one of the traditional arenas for activity by the AMC, for the purposes of the Waste Minimisation project this sector is considered as a crucial industry. Some of the reasons include:

• Arguably this is the largest manufacturing sector with over $50 billion turnover, reportedly one in five people work in this industry.
• Success of this sector is critical for Australia's well being as exports represent $10-15 billion annually and over 90% of the ingredients used in products are Australian
• This industry produces a large number of different types of products, which leads to a wide range of waste minimisation issues of considerable importance.

To mention just a few of the major issues, packaging, recycling, pollution, emissions and process waste are all high on the agenda. Leading organisations are in the process of developing environmental management tools such as policies, systems, audits and reporting. Other pressures to accelerate environmental initiatives include changes in legal requirements and voluntary schemes such as the National Packaging Covenant and Greenhouse Challenge.

This being one of the leading industries, there is a good appreciation of bottom line, consumer perception, corporate citizenship and stakeholder issues.