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Promote waste minimisation in a food and drink environment

URN: IMPSF105
Business Sectors (Suites): Sustainable Food Production
Developed by: Improve
Approved on: 31 Dec 2021

Overview

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This standard covers the skills and knowledge needed to promote waste minimisation in food and drink manufacture and its supply chain. It includes the development of working systems that avoid and reduce the production of waste in support of sustainability. It also includes managing the systems used to control waste and its disposal.

This standard applies to you if you are a manager or technologist who has responsibility for waste in a food and drink environment. It is expected that you will work as part of a team to develop and implement the systems.

Performance criteria

You must be able to:

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  1. identify legal requirements that control the management of waste
  2. specify waste reduction, reuse and recycling targets to comply with legal requirements
  3. establish current levels of waste for activities undertaken by the organisation
  4. assess effectiveness of waste management systems
  5. identify opportunities for avoiding and reducing waste through design, reuse and recycling
  6. identify potential barriers that may limit waste avoidance and reduction
  7. specify waste monitoring procedures
  8. confirm measures for managing waste meet legal requirements
  9. advise on design of processes and products to help avoid and minimise potential waste
  10. promote and support implementation of waste avoidance and reduction measures for all organisational activities
  11. promote application of waste avoidance, recycling and reuse in support of organisational activities
  12. define and allocate roles and responsibilities to support waste minimisation
  13. identify training needs and organise training to those responsible for reducing waste
  14. develop and implement strategy to overcome barriers that limit the impact of waste reduction measures
  15. establish methods to evaluate impact of waste reduction measures
  16. support implementation of monitoring and control procedures
  17. evaluate the impact of measures to reduce waste
  18. specify benefits achieved through waste reduction measures

Knowledge and Understanding

You need to know and understand:

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  1. legislation that controls an organisation's waste policies and procedures
  2. different types of waste and where and how they can legally be disposed of
  3. waste management hierarchies
  4. government targets and standards for waste reduction, reuse and recycling
  5. how production of waste impacts on environmental issues such as climate change
  6. the impact of waste on sustainability
  7. how waste avoidance and minimisation supports sustainability
  8. benefits of waste minimisation to the organisation
  9. how waste minimisation can help reduce carbon emissions
  10. how and where waste is generated as a result of organisational activities
  11. how to establish current levels of waste for different types of waste generated by the organisation across all organisational activities
  12. how to assess effectiveness of waste management systems
  13. principles of waste benchmarking as a method of identifying opportunities for reducing waste
  14. factors that limit organisational recycling and reuse
  15. how process and product design can help avoid and minimise the generation of waste
  16. opportunities available for reducing waste
  17. how to develop targets for waste, reuse and recycling
  18. barriers that can limit the impact of measures to minimise waste and how barriers can be overcome
  19. how effective process control and quality assurance can support waste minimisation
  20. how to complete an organisational cost/benefit analysis in respect to waste
  21. methods of promoting waste avoidance and minimisation
  22. how to monitor, control and maintain waste minimisation
  23. organisational audit requirements
  24. how to define and allocate roles and responsibilities for all those involved in reducing waste across all the activities undertaken by the organisation
  25. how to identify training needs and organise staff training to support waste minimisation
  26. how to evaluate the impact of measures to reduce waste
  27. principles of continuous improvement
  28. how to act as a role model for promoting waste minimisation

Scope/range

Scope Performance

Scope Knowledge

Values

Behaviours

Skills

Glossary

Links To Other NOS

External Links

Version Number

3

Indicative Review Date

31 Jan 2025

Validity

Current

Status

Original

Originating Organisation

NSAFD

Original URN

IMPSF105

Relevant Occupations

Food Production Operatives, Manufacturing Technologies, Plant and Machine Operatives, Process Operatives, Process, Plant and Machine Operatives

SOC Code

8111

Keywords

Food; manufacture; sustainable; environmental; production; waste; energy; water; transport; efficiency; drink