TOWARDS A CIRCULAR BIOECONOMY - RETAINING NUTRIENTS IN THE CYCLE WHILE REDUCING FOOD WASTE BEFORE IT'S GENERATED
Food waste prevention and organic waste management
In the European Union, over 58 million tonnes of food or 131 kg per person is wasted. This is unacceptable and shows the need to shift towards sustainable food systems swiftly. Only when we rethink our relation with food production and consumption will we be able to waste less and produce food fairly and sustainably.“ – Theresa Mörsen, Waste & Resources Policy Officer at Zero Waste Europe
Food waste represents environmental, ethical, and economic problems; and the high levels of losses and waste along the supply chain highlight the malfunctioning of our food system at large.
In that sense, we advocate for the EU to adopt ambitious and legally binding food waste reduction targets and call for measures addressing food waste at the production level.
We complement this work with monitoring and showcasing good practices through our work at the Zero Waste Cities programme. Many local initiatives have already shown great results regarding food waste reduction and can serve as a basis for future EU reforms.
At the same time, we acknowledge that there will inevitably be some food waste/organic waste in the system, which has to be properly managed to retain valuable nutrients in the loop.
We, therefore, work towards better biowaste collection and recycling at all levels: EU, national, and local.
