ENVIRONMENT
We’re hungry to become a fully circular zero waste business by 2035, as well as becoming a net zero carbon business by 2040 or sooner – and we’ve partnered with industry experts to help us get there.
REACHING NET ZERO EMISSIONS
Climate change is happening and the window of time to stabilise the climate is vanishing fast. We have to address the urgent action that’s needed in the world today with all businesses pulling their weight and playing their part – and that includes us.
That’s why we’re baking our climate action strategy into the core of our business – from supply chain through to our restaurants and our guests.
OUR GOALS
• By 2040: Reach net zero emissions across our entire value chain
APPROACH
Becoming a Net Zero carbon business by 2040 is a big commitment but we have a plan to get us there. We know how important collaboration will be to help us on this journey, so we’ve teamed up with carbon strategists, Arete Zero Carbon, and the University of Liverpool’s Zero Carbon Research Initiative. We’re also collaborating with other businesses through our memberships with WRAP Courtauld 2030, Zero Carbon Forum, and the BRC Climate Action Roadmap.
OUR PROGRESS
We’ve measured the total greenhouse gas emissions KFC UKI generates annually and set a baseline to work from. We’ve developed our Net Zero Roadmap, which highlights the steps we're taking to reduce carbon emissions within our restaurants and across our supply chain.
Find out more about our Net Zero Roadmap
BECOMING A CIRCULAR, ZERO WASTE BUSINESS
Waste – We hate it. We value the true cost of things. When we throw something away, we’re also throwing away all the raw materials, energy, water, labour, and other resources that went into making it. And whilst we all have the best intentions, waste can sometimes end up in the wrong place – littered on land or in the sea, threatening human, animal, or sea life.
At KFC, we’re ditching the linear ‘make, take, dispose’ system in favour of a ‘circular economy’, where our products and packaging can be reduced, reused, or recycled within a closed loop system.
OUR GOAL
• By 2035: To become a fully circular, zero waste business
APPROACH
We’re evolving our processes to reduce food waste; redistribute unsold food; and recycle as much as we can. Reducing food waste in our kitchens isn’t easy, and that’s why we’ve been long-standing members of WRAP Courtauld 2030.
We’re moving towards more circular packaging, where we design out waste, source sustainably, maximise recycling and reuse and avoid litter. And we’ve become members of the WRAP UK Plastics Pact to help us on our way.
We’re also working to ensure we have reuse and recycling programmes in place for our uniforms and equipment, and we’re engaging with our suppliers to ensure they’re sustainably and ethically sourced. KFC were the first foodservice business to join WRAP Textiles 2030 to help to accelerate the UK textiles industry towards a circular economy.
OUR PROGRESS
KFC has recently partnered with sustainability experts, Footprint, on food waste research that explores the complex challenges and opportunities that foodservice businesses face in dealing with food waste. The findings have been published in a Food Waste 2023 Report, which is available to download here.
We’re committed to measuring our food waste, reporting it to WRAP, and taking action to reduce it. We’ve already started tackling food waste within our supply chain.
In 2017, we moved to skin-on fries, which is more efficient as it removes a stage of processing and produces less waste.
In our restaurants, we’re using automated demand forecasting software to tell kitchen staff how many units of each item to prepare at any given time. Some of our UK restaurants are currently working with Yum! Brands, our parent company, to trial AI technology to improve the forecasting of how much chicken we need to cook, which will help us reduce overproduction waste even further.
We’ve also teamed up with FareShare to redistribute surplus food from our restaurants to people most in need and to prevent it from going to waste.
Our food waste is also collected for recycling and nearly all our used cooking oil is converted into biodiesel.
We're making great progress with our packaging. We’ve already removed plastic cutlery, straws, and stirrers from our restaurants. We'll keep working on removing unnecessary plastics and packaging where we can find more sustainable solutions.
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