Members of the EU’s platform on Food Losses and Food Waste (FLW Platform) have urged the European Council, Commission and Parliament to set EU food waste targets now, instead of waiting for a plan to be set first.
European trialogue discussions are currently in the process of deciding the EU food waste policy for the next 13 years through changes to the Waste Framework Directive.
The European Council has been attempting to block the European Parliament’s proposed EU food waste targets, due to the Council wanting a definition and plan first.
According to FLW Platform, there is a risk that EU food waste targets may be scrapped entirely if the Council continue to block these targets, which would jeopardise the EU’s target to halve food waste by 2030.
In March, the European Parliament voted in favour of setting targets to halve EU food waste by 2030, from farm to fork, and has been debating in favour of these negotiations since.
A group of FLW Platform members, including Slow Food, Feedback, FoodWIN and Health Care Without Harm Europe (HCWH), have released a statement dismissing the European Council’s argument.
The group has argued that farm to fork targets can and should be set before a methodology for measurement is created, and stopping these targets will damage the EU’s 2030 target.
If food waste targets are accepted by the EU in 2017, it will take at least two years for this law to be translated into member state law, and would be possible to include the Platform”s method into the targets.
The EU food waste campaign is founded by This is Rubbish, 67 organisations from 20 EU countries and have over 100.000 petition signatures that are calling on the European Council and Commission to support the European Parliament’s proposed 2030 goal.
They have said that this could be the “last chance” to save the next 13 years of EU food waste policy from becoming weak.
HCWH Deputy Director and member of the FLW Platform Grazia Cioci said: “The Council’s argument against setting EU food waste reduction targets is weak and not supported by evidence. A methodology, although very useful, does not need to be in place for targets to be adopted and implemented. In addition, it will take EU member states at least two years to transpose the revised Waste Framework Directive into national legislation, once it is adopted, which means that national legislation will be in place not earlier than 2020.”
Negotiations are likely to end in late November.
