EU Policies & Initiatives for tackling food waste

Dr Richard Swannell

Director1 April 2019

@R_Swannell

WHAT

WRAP

DOES

Global

Sustainable

Development

Goals

Governments

& Cities

BusinessNGO’s

Citizens

© WRAP 2016

WRAP is a

not-for-profit

organisation

working with partners

in 20 countries

What we do

Food’s contribution- the Environmental Case

70%

Nutrient overloading

60%

Biodiversity loss

30%

Global warming

60%

Land conversion

FOR EVERY 2 TONNES OF

FOODWE EAT

ANOTHER TONNE IS

WASTED

9.1

16.9 15.1

46.5

0

10

20

30

40

50

p r pr sing olesa ta ce hous ho d

Food Loss & Waste along the supply chain: EU-28 2012 - million tonnes/ year (FUSIONS 2016)

Mill

ion

to

nn

es/

year

10% 19% 17%

53%

Primary

production

Wholesale,

Retail + Food

service

HouseholdsProcessing /

Manufacture

19%

Cost- 143 billion Euros

Business Case

1200 business

sites

200 companies

17 countries

For each €1

invested €14

of financial

benefit

realised

SDG Target 12.3

“By 2030 halve per capita global food

waste at the retail and consumer level,

and reduce food losses along production

and supply chains including post-harvest

losses”

• Mandatory measurement of food waste using a common

methodology

• Mandatory Food Waste Prevention Plans for each country

• Separate collection of food waste & total recycling 55% by 2025

• Aspiration for a 50% reduction in food loss & waste

• Waste must be treated in line with waste hierarchy

• Consulting on a mandatory target for food waste reduction

Food Waste Prevention – 5 point plan

• Prevent waste at source

• Redistribute more surplus food

• Divert to added value products

• Recycle what can’t be prevented

• Minimise food waste to landfill

Approaches

• Developing a strategy with targets- e.g. Germany, NL, Denmark,

Sweden, Estonia, UK

• Regulation & legislation e.g. France, Italy, UK

• Public Investment in new technology e.g. NL, EU, UK

• Voluntary Agreements- e.g. Hungary, Germany, NL, Spain, UK, Norway

• Consumer campaigns- e.g. Denmark, Germany, NL, Poland, Estonia, UK

www.eu-refresh.org01-Apr-19

Blueprint for VAs

Initiation

and set upAmbition

Governance

and funding

Establishing

actions

Monitoring

and

evaluation

Delivered €110 M savings

in 3 y

Increased redistribution

by 58 million meals

Retail, supply chain &

processing FLW reduced

by >200,000 t/y

Taking action: Going further

A ground-breaking, industry wide roadmap and toolkit:

• Enable businesses to measure and report consistently

• Help businesses take targeted actions to reduce waste

• Help the UK deliver its part in SDG Target 12.3

Added Value Product

Grow black fly larvae

on separately collected

food waste producing:

• Refined protein

• Fish and chicken

feed

• Renewable fertilizer

Communicating with citizens

Consumer campaigns

Influencing citizens

UK Household food

waste:

1 million t/y savings

4 Mt GHG savings

€ 3.1 billion/y

Conclusions

• Case for tackling food waste is compelling

• EU has a clear agreed strategy for reducing food waste

• EU experience shows the need to co-ordinate actions across the food

system, across Government Depts & requires multiple actors

• Popular approaches include:

• Increasing food redistribution

• VAs and consumer campaigns

• Driving fair trade

• Supported by policy, regulatory change

• And potentially tax incentives

• Its hard & requires sustained effort.

• Best food waste reductions in EU are 15-19%

Contact

Questions?

www.wrap.org.uk

@WRAP_UK

Dr Richard Swannell

richard.swannell@wrap.org.uk

+44 (0)1295 819900

+ 44 (0) 7950 937174

@R_Swannell