DAIRY COUNCIL CUTTING EMISSIONS
Responding to the WWF report How Low can we Go?, Dairy UK Director General Jim Begg said: “WWF suggests removing some of the nation’s most popular foods from the shelves, ‘educating’ consumers to choose different foods and topping up a plant-based diet with supplements.
Dairy UK believes that these are dangerous principles that will alienate consumers and the food industry alike.
“Dairy UK would be happy to work with WWF in a constructive fashion to tackle the environmental challenges that we all face – including radically lowering emissions from the food chain. But that means recognising the social, economic and cultural importance of the dairy industry.
“The conclusion that dairy farmers should be encouraged to invest in slashing their output as the world’s population grows is unrealistic. And it is not sensible to advocate that consumers switch to a vegetarian diet, topped up with vitamin supplements. It is high time that environmental pressure groups recognised that dairy foods are in fact very efficient sources of nutrition.
“We hope that WWF will engage with the industry and support existing initiatives such as the Milk Roadmap, the Environmental Plan for Dairy Farming and the development of a carbon footprinting standard for dairy. Processors, retailers and dairy farmers are quietly making progress towards targets that will see a major reduction in emissions through more efficient handling of slurry, eliminating waste to landfill and using more recycled plastic in milk bottles. This is where the true greenhouse gas savings are being made.”
- Since 1990, dairy farmers have reduced methane emissions by 14%
- Over the past 9 years, dairy processors have reduced energy use per kilogram of product by 11%
- Half of the 130,000 tonnes of plastic used annually to make milk bottles will come from recycled sources by 2020
- Large processors will send no waste to landfill by 2015
- Large processors will use 30% less water by 2020
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