One of the consequences of the recession has been to force us to rethink our views on production and consumption. Across governments, businesses and communities, various methods have been adopted to drive through efficiencies and cost savings. In many cases, technology has been the force that has enabled us to make these shifts in our processes and behaviours. In food waste, the situation is altogether different, with 40% still ending up in landfill.

While we have had some success in terms of cutting down on household food waste – 21% since 2007 – recent WRAP statistics show UK households are still wasting the equivalent of six meals a week amounting to £60 a month in spite of the rising cost of food and energy. Better education around waste prevention is one solution, but another should be to help consumers, businesses and policymakers understand how waste can contribute to the economy.

Including food waste in agriculture and the energy mix

In a perfect world, the ultimate aim is to prevent waste, but where that's not possible, the next step is to deal with unavoidable waste in the most efficient and beneficial way. The UK can rapidly reverse the depressing WRAP food waste statistics by financially incentivising businesses of all sizes to treat their food waste. Businesses are currently overlooking its value, partly because in Veolia's experience, collection represents around 70% of the total cost of food waste management.

In Inverness, food waste is collected weekly from 28,000 households to be turned into agricultural fertiliser. Since September, approximately 200 tonnes of waste have been diverted from landfill and the scheme is set to extend to flatted properties in the coming months. If all the non-avoidable food waste, such as potato peelings, were collected, the UK could become almost self-sufficient in fertilisers. We would no longer have to import or synthesise them at a cost to the environment which would reduce the cost of farming, benefit the creation of a new organic industry and create jobs. What we need to help that industry develop is a levy on chemical fertilisers and peat.

Veolia has commissioned Imperial College London to undertake an independent review of UK infrastructure needs. We are learning that once we collect commercial food waste in sufficient quantities it will become viable to invest in anaerobic digestion (AD). At the moment, only municipal and industrial groups represent viable investment. Anaerobic digestion is a form of biological treatment that digests food waste in a closed bioreactor to produce a biogas, which is captured to produce electric energy and heat with a byproduct for the agricultural industry. Research suggests that if 5.5m tonnes of food waste was treated by AD it could generate enough electricity to meet the needs of up to 164,000 households. Effectively, with the right infrastructure in place we can use our food waste to help keep electricity prices under control.

As well as this, including more waste in our energy mix could be an effective way to reach our renewable energy targets. We need a more sustainable approach to our policy on renewables. Currently energy crops are subsidised but alternative fuels such as food waste are not. The incentives should be the other way around. We are using land to grow fuels when we already have plenty available that we are wasting.

Food management for a circular economy

Food waste is one part of a wider opportunity for the UK – the shift towards a circular economy. Our traditional linear models of resource use – make, use, dispose – are neither sustainable nor suited to the future challenges the UK faces. If we make the move now towards more circular modes of production, where products are made to be reused and waste is not seen as an inconvenience but as a commodity, we can safeguard ourselves from future threats such as resource scarcity and energy instability.

In some ways we have reached a watershed moment for the move from linear to circular modes of production. As we emerge from a prolonged recession, we need to identify sustainable ways to grow our economy. Building an energy market around waste, manufacturing green products and developing green skills are all solutions that can be put into practice now, if given a supportive policy framework.

Estelle Brachlianoff is Veolia Environnement director of northern Europe and UK country director, follow her @Estelle_Veolia