Reducing the external costs of the domestic transport of food by the food industry

A report entitled Reducing the external costs of the domestic transport of food by the food industry was published by Defra in the Spring of 2007.

The report was commissioned by the transport champions group of the Food Industry Sustainability Strategy and it makes interesting reading.

The report's aim is to identify opportunities that could give rise to a 20% reduction in the external costs associated with domestic food transportation by the food industry and the barriers to achieving such a reduction.

The external costs are those not borne by the transport operator and are defined as the contribution to accidents, air quality, congestion, CO2 infrastructure (damage) and noise.