Europe missing out on the potential of food waste, with almost 75% ending up in landfills or incinerated

Brussels, 5 November 2024 – The latest edition of the Bio-based Industries Consortium (BIC) report, published by and done in collaboration with Zero Waste Europe, reveals that the 2022 capture rate of food waste across the EU stood at only 26%. The capture rate of total bio-waste, including garden waste, was still less than half, at 46%.

The report, “Bio-waste generation in the EU: Current capture levels and future potential” shows that despite a small improvement, a considerable amount of bio-waste remains uncollected, amounting to millions of tonnes annually. This exacerbates many issues for the climate and biodiversity in Europe, as well as proving costly for municipalities. For example, food waste ending up in landfills results in the waste sector to be the second biggest contributing sector for methane emissions in the EU.

Two-thirds of EU member states have already received early warning reports for being at risk of missing the 2025 municipal waste recycling targets, in part due to low bio-waste capture rates. This report highlights the undeniable link between effective bio-waste collection and high recycling rates, given that bio-waste forms around 37% of municipal waste in the EU.

To reach the EU’s 65% recycling target for municipal waste by 2035 would necessitate capturing and treating an extra 40 million tonnes of bio-waste each year, the report emphasises, which make composting and anaerobic digestion of separately collected bio-waste absolutely essential.

Jack McQuibban, Head of Local Implementation at Zero Waste Europe, states:

“We know that bio-waste remains deprioritised across much of the EU, even despite the new requirement for separate collection. Given the fact that only 26% of food waste is captured across the EU, it’s clear much stronger action is needed. There is widespread recognition now of the best practices to collect and treat bio-waste. What is evident is the need for revised EU legislation that sets legally binding targets for the quality of bio-waste captured, and a cap on residual waste generation per capita, which would incentivise better bio-waste collection and treatment across the EU-27.”

In 2015, the EU and its Member States signed up to UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 12.3 to halve food waste by 2030. In 2024, progress is underway at EU level to introduce one of the world’s first legally binding targets to reduce food waste. However, the proposed law, still under negotiation, falls short of the SDG 12.3 commitment of 50% reduction. Zero Waste Europe, with the help of its European network of communities and experts, helps support multi-level interventions to transform the wasteful food supply chain issue. 

Director Dirk Carrez, BIC Executive Director, states:

“The bio-based sector is already valourising bio-waste in smart and efficient processes. A number of BIC’s members are companies that use innovative methods to convert bio-waste into high-value bio-based products. More efficiently capturing bio-waste, will allow more of it to be valourised in the bio-based industries and especially for biomanufacturing.”

The publication of this report comes after the implementation of mandatory separate collection of bio-waste across the EU on 1 January 2024. To support this implementation of effective bio-waste management strategies, the EU LIFE BIOBEST project, of which ZWE is a member of, has been collecting and showcasing several best practices from across Europe – from Catalonia to Slovenia and Croatia.

ENDS

Notes to the editor

• Read the full report, “Bio-waste generation in the EU: Current capture levels and future potential”, here: https://zerowasteeurope.eu/library/bio-waste-generation-in-the-eu-current-capture-levels-and-future-potential-second-edition/ 
• 18 Member States have been identified as being at risk of missing the target of 55% preparing for re-use and recycling of municipal waste by 2025: Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain and Sweden. More info here: https://www.eumonitor.eu/9353000/1/j4nvhdfcs8bljza_j9vvik7m1c3gyxp/vm3rh2qnqbyr#:~:text=Based%20on%20the%20assessment%20carried,municipal%20waste%20by%202025%3A%20Bulgaria%2C 

• To support the implementation of effective bio-waste management strategies, the LIFE BIOBEST project coordinated by Zero Waste Europe has published a set of guidelines offering practical guidance for local authorities and stakeholders. See here for the guidelines.

• “Guideline on the separate collection of bio-waste”: https://zerowasteeurope.eu/library/guideline-on-the-separate-collection-of-bio-waste/   

• “Guideline to promote quality compost and digestate”: https://zerowasteeurope.eu/library/guideline-to-promote-quality-compost-and-digestate/   

• “Guideline on governance and economic incentives”: https://zerowasteeurope.eu/library/guideline-on-governance-and-economic-incentives   

• “Country Factsheets on the analysis of communication and engagement practices”: https://zerowasteeurope.eu/library/country-factsheets-on-the-analysis-of-communication-and-engagement-practices  

• Read our op-ed on the topic of food waste, “Something we can all agree on? Prioritising food waste reduction” here: https://www.friendsofeurope.org/insights/critical-thinking-something-we-can-all-agree-on-prioritising-food-waste-reduction/

Press contacts 

Sean Flynn, Media Outreach & Communications Officer at Zero Waste Europe: [email protected] or [email protected]  / +32 471 96 55 93

About Zero Waste Europe

Zero Waste Europe (ZWE) is the European network of communities, local leaders, experts, and change agents working towards a better use of resources and the elimination of waste in our society. We advocate for sustainable systems; for the redesign of our relationship with resources; and for a global shift towards environmental justice, accelerating a just transition towards zero waste for the benefit of people and the planet. www.zerowasteeurope.eu 

About the Bio-based Industries Consortium

The Bio-based Industries Consortium (BIC) is the private partner in the €3.7 billion public-private partnership with the EU – the Bio-based Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI JU). Its membership includes 240+ industry members covering the whole value chain, from primary production to the market, across multiple and diverse sectors including agriculture & agri-food, aquaculture & marine, chemicals and materials, including bioplastics, forestry and pulp & paper, market sectors, technology providers and waste management & treatment. BIC’s membership also includes over 200 associate members such as research organisations, academia, trade associations, etc. To learn more about BIC, you can consult their brochure here.