The EU will struggle to meet its 2030 food waste and climate targets without a new way to pay for food waste prevention and collection, according to a new report by Zero Waste Europe.
The report, produced by the Bio-based Industries Consortium (BIC) and Zero Waste Europe (ZWE), found that the EU will struggle to meet the targets and proposes introducing Extended Producer Responsibility for Food Products (EPRFP).
As part of the Waste Framework Directive, the EU has set a target to reduce food waste by 30% per capita at the household retail and restaurant level and 10% at the manufacturing level by 2030.
Food waste is responsible for 8–10% of global greenhouse gas emissions, while EU citizens generate around 130 kg of food waste per person each year.
EU Member States are obligated to separately collect biowaste; however, a report by ZWE found that only an estimated 26% of kitchen waste is currently captured, with the rest ending up in landfills or incinerated.
ZWE argues that an EPRFP scheme covering wholesalers, importers and retailers (limited to their own ‘white label’ products) would transfer a portion of the financial and operational responsibility for food waste from municipalities and taxpayers to producers.
Commenting on the report, Joan Marc Simon, Founder of Zero Waste Europe, said: ”Now that we have EU targets on food waste and the obligation to separately collect bio-waste, we need the economic instruments to meet them.”
“EPR for food products can mobilise the funding necessary to reduce food waste and increase separate collection of organics.”