Summary: The Chancery Lane Project and WRAP have updated a model contract clause designed to help businesses measure, reduce and report food waste across supply chains. The initiative shows how legal documents, often seen as administrative formalities, can become practical tools for climate action, cost reduction and corporate transparency.
London, 14 May 2026 — Food waste is usually discussed in terms of households, supermarkets, logistics or consumer behaviour. But a new collaboration between The Chancery Lane Project and WRAP places a less visible instrument at the centre of the debate: the commercial contract.
The two organisations have updated Runa’s Clause, a practical legal tool intended to help companies reduce food waste in their supply chains. The clause is designed for use in agreements between customers and suppliers, requiring parties to measure food waste, record reduction efforts, report progress and cooperate on practical steps to prevent avoidable waste.
The initiative comes at a time when governments, retailers, manufacturers and food-service businesses are under increasing pressure to address the environmental and financial cost of waste. According to the European Commission, more than 58 million tonnes of food waste are generated annually in the EU, with an estimated market value of around €132 billion. The EU has also introduced binding food-waste reduction targets for Member States by 2030, including a 10% reduction in processing and manufacturing and a 30% per capita reduction across retail, restaurants, food services and households.
Turning sustainability promises into contract obligations
The significance of Runa’s Clause lies in its attempt to move food-waste reduction from broad corporate aspiration into day-to-day commercial practice. Rather than relying only on sustainability reports or voluntary commitments, the clause embeds measurement, cooperation and reporting duties directly into supply-chain contracts.
The updated wording encourages businesses to measure the tonnage of food waste linked to a contract, identify causes where possible, maintain records of reduction initiatives and share data with the other contracting party. It also provides for regular meetings between the parties and the use of annual food-waste reports, with reference to WRAP’s data-capture tools and recognised food-waste guidance.
That approach reflects a wider shift in climate and sustainability governance. Businesses are increasingly being asked not only to set environmental targets, but to show how those targets are implemented through procurement, logistics, supplier management and internal controls.
Ben Metz, Executive Director at The Chancery Lane Project, said contracts are “one of the most powerful levers businesses have to drive change across supply chains.” By building food-waste reduction into agreements, he said, companies can move “from good intentions to measurable impact.”
Why food waste is also a business cost
WRAP’s involvement gives the clause added practical weight. Its Food Waste Reduction Roadmap promotes a “Target, Measure, Act” approach: setting reduction targets, measuring food-waste data and using that information to take corrective action. The Roadmap is open to businesses across the food and drink sector, from retailers and manufacturers to hospitality, food service and suppliers.
Caroline Conroy, Senior Specialist Food System Transformation at WRAP, said food waste carries a heavy financial burden for businesses. According to figures cited in the announcement, the average cost incurred by a company for every tonne of food waste generated ranged from £1,638 to more than £4,200 across various sectors. Reducing a tonne of food waste, WRAP added, can also prevent nearly four tonnes of CO2e from being produced.
This makes the issue both environmental and operational. Waste means unnecessary production, transport, storage, labour, disposal and emissions. In a sector already exposed to inflation, energy costs, climate disruption and changing consumer expectations, food-waste prevention is increasingly a matter of resilience as well as responsibility.
A supply-chain transparency tool
The updated clause also addresses a recurring difficulty in sustainability work: companies may control their own operations, but much of their environmental footprint sits in the supply chain. Without contractual structures for sharing data and cooperating on improvements, businesses can struggle to understand where waste occurs and who is best placed to prevent it.
Runa’s Clause seeks to create that structure. It encourages both parties to identify causes of waste, avoid unnecessary food loss, handle rejected goods in time to prevent them becoming waste, and develop a continuous-improvement plan linked to a defined reduction target.
English Provender Company, part of The Billington Group and a supplier of sauces, dressings, condiments and marinades to major UK retailers and food businesses, has already received board approval to adopt the clause. Carl Steckerl, Business Lead for Environmental, Social and Governance at the company, said the business wants to increase transparency in cases of avoidable waste and work collaboratively with suppliers and customers.
A European relevance beyond the UK
Although the clause has been developed in a UK legal and policy context, its broader relevance is clear. Across Europe, food-waste prevention is becoming a stronger regulatory and commercial priority. The EU’s revised waste framework now places measurable reduction targets at the centre of Member States’ obligations, while businesses face growing expectations to document sustainability performance across their value chains.
For European companies, the lesson is not simply that one model clause should be copied into every contract. Legal templates must always be adapted to the relevant jurisdiction, sector and commercial relationship. The deeper message is that sustainability commitments are more likely to succeed when they are reflected in the legal architecture of business itself.
This is part of a wider food-systems debate that The European Times has previously covered, including calls for stronger action to transform food systems, reduce waste and build more resilient supply chains.
From policy language to practical enforcement
Runa’s Clause is not a law, and it does not replace public regulation. But it demonstrates how private law can support public climate and sustainability goals. Where legislation sets broad targets, contracts can translate those targets into operational duties between specific businesses.
That may prove important as food-waste policy moves from awareness campaigns to implementation. Companies will increasingly need evidence of what they are doing, where waste occurs, how suppliers are involved and whether reductions are measurable. Contract clauses can help create that evidence trail.
Food waste remains one of Europe’s most visible contradictions: vast quantities of edible and inedible food are discarded while households face rising living costs and food insecurity. Tackling it will require regulation, technology, consumer change and better logistics. But this initiative suggests another practical lever: the documents companies already sign every day.
In that sense, the updated Runa’s Clause is more than a legal drafting exercise. It is a reminder that sustainability is not only written in climate strategies. It is also written in procurement terms, supplier obligations, reporting duties and the small contractual mechanisms that shape how businesses behave.
