The European Union (EU) is proposing binding targets throughout the food and beverage industry supply chain to address food waste in the bloc.
According to the European Commission, member states will need to reduce food waste by 10% in processing and manufacturing by 2030. Additionally, they will be tasked with achieving a 30% cut per capita, based on 2020 figures, “jointly at retail and consumption,” which includes foodservice and households.
In the EU, approximately 59 million tonnes of food are wasted each year, resulting in an estimated loss of €132bn ($143.5bn). This contributes to 252 million tonnes of CO2 equivalents or about 16% of the total greenhouse gas emissions from the EU food system.
The proposed plan by the European Commission aims to enhance food security and promote sustainability in food production and consumption. Stella Kyriakides, the commissioner for health and food safety at the European Commission, believes this offers an opportunity to redesign the industry and offer more safe, sustainable, and nutritious products to consumers. She also highlights the importance of EU farming and food businesses leading in sustainability efforts globally.
The industry lobby body FoodDrinkEurope has expressed the need to ensure the new plans do not undermine businesses that have been working towards targets set in 2015. The UN’s Sustainable Development Goal, established eight years ago, aims to halve food waste per capita by 2030.
As part of a broader initiative to protect and restore EU soils, the European Commission has proposed a law to improve soil health. The proposal aims to address the fact that 60-70% of EU soils are currently considered unhealthy, and the associated costs of soil degradation are estimated at over €50 billion per year. Member states will be required to monitor soil health against specified indicators and work towards achieving healthy soils by 2050.
While the soil health initiative has received some criticism within the industry, the EU is determined to ensure a viable future by legally defining healthy soils, collecting data on soil conditions, promoting sustainable soil management, and decontaminating polluted soils.
The One Planet Business for Biodiversity (OP2B), a sustainability collective representing major food companies including Unilever, Nestlé, and Danone, has called for increased ambition and support for regenerative agriculture in the EU’s soil health proposal.
Despite some industry concerns, the EU’s plans to tackle food waste and improve soil health demonstrate a commitment to sustainability and environmental preservation in the food and beverage industry.
