The European Union’s Committee of Regions (CoR) has called for the EU to adopt a minimum food waste reduction target of 30 per cent by 2025 to meet the economic, environmental and social challenges caused by wasted food.

The CoR, the EU’s assembly of regional and local representatives, voted to adopt a report presented to the committee by rapporteur Ossi Martikainen on Wednesday (15 June), which establishes the desired target.

Twenty per cent of food produced in Europe is wasted every year. In 2012 alone, 88 million tonnes of food, nearly 173 kilogrammes (kg) per person, was thrown away in the EU.

The CoR sees the prevention of food waste as a key issue in combating ‘food insecurity’, one of the ‘greatest challenges of the 21st century’, which affects 10 per cent of the EU’s population.

In the report, the CoR encouraged local and regional authorities to put effective prevention and awareness programmes in place to tackle the food waste challenge that ‘European cities and regions have the power and will to meet’.

Criteria, methodology and measurements

According to the FUSIONS 2016 report, ‘Estimate of European Food Waste Levels’, household, food service and retail sectors are responsible for 70 per cent of all EU food waste. The remaining 30 per cent comes from production and processing sectors.

Although many EU cities and regions have adopted plans to reduce food waste, such as the Italian ‘I do not waste’ initiative and Scotland’s ‘Making Things Last’ circular economy strategy, which this year set a target to reduce food waste by a third by 2025, the CoR would like to see a ‘common, harmonised reduction goal right across the EU’.

To measure progress towards this goal and the extent of food waste, the CoR believes common methodology and measurements should be employed at EU level and that ‘sustainability criteria’ should be used in public procurement to reduce food waste.

The CoR opinion also advises catering services to the use local, regional and seasonal products and suggests that thematic days and study visits should be used in schools to educate children on the food waste issue.

The European Commission’s Circular Economy Package included no target for food waste reduction, though the European Parliament’s draft amendments to the package include a desired target of ‘at least’ 65 per cent of biowaste to be recycled by 2025.

In order to help food waste and loss reduction, rather than simply the collection and recycling of it, the Food Waste and Loss Protocol, a partnership of governmental, global and industry groups this month launched a framework for companies and governments to provide a consistent definition of food waste and methods of calculating it and identifying areas that improvements can be made.

EU Platform on Food Losses and Food Waste

CoR is due to participate in the upcoming EU Platform on Food Losses and Food Waste (FLW), which is dedicated to the prevention of food waste and was formed to meet the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals 12.3 target of cutting global food waste in half by 2030.

The platform aims to support sharing of best waste reduction practices and measures across all entities in the food supply chain. These will include EU member states and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries, EU bodies including the CoR, and international-, consumer- and other non-governmental organisations.

‘Committing to an ambitious target is essential’

Commenting on the adopted report, Markku Markkula, President of the European Committee of the Regions, said: “When so many go hungry each day, it is simply unacceptable that so much food goes to waste. The 30 per cent target shows that local and regional governments are ready to act. From promoting awareness-raising, to shortening the supply chain to food collections, local and regional governments can make a difference but they need the EU to lead the way.”

Vytenis Andriukaitis, European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, said: “Fighting food waste requires concrete action on the ground by all players. In this respect, I would like to thank the Committee of the Regions for your work on the issue. I am indeed deeply convinced that our regions and cities have an important role to play on the issue of food waste because they generate and manage waste every day. This is why when I am visiting member states I continuously raise awareness, particularly at the local level.

“They can implement concrete actions on the ground to fight food waste, working directly with citizens as well as a wide range of actors including schools, community markets, restaurants, food businesses and food banks or charitable organisations.”

Martikainen concluded: “There are a variety of means and innovative local initiatives for achieving the goal, long-time advocated by the CoR, of reducing food waste by 30 per cent at EU level. Committing to an ambitious target is essential. Especially because achieving it requires no specific financial support or budget. Reducing waste saves money and nature at the same time. This is a win-win situation.”

More information about the worldwide problem of food waste and loss can be found in Resource’s feature article.