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
+44 (0)1295 819900
+ 44 (0) 7950 937174
@R_Swannell