Brussels, 04/07/2014 (Agence Europe) - Cutting food waste by 30% by 2025. This is one of the objectives laid down by the European Commission in its raft of measures on the circular economy. However, the publication of the communication on sustainable food, which provides, amongst other things, for the reintroduction of animal meal in poultry and pig feed, has been delayed by a few weeks, due to legal problems (see EUROPE 11110).
On 2 July, the European Commission presented a package of proposals on the circular economy, aiming, amongst other things, to reduce food waste by 30% by 2025 (EUROPE 11113). A specific communication on sustainable food was to have been part of this package, but its publication has been put back by a couple of weeks. In this document, the Commission was to propose to phase back in the use of processed animal proteins (animal meal) to feed non-ruminants (pigs, poultry). In its draft, the Commission said that it was open to the idea of making “better use of animals and their byproducts in animal feed and food for humans”, adding that appropriate control measures should be set in place throughout the production chain in order to avoid intra-species consumption (cannibalism). The legal services of the European Commission are believed to have had reservations over the figures on food waste, which are hard to establish precisely.
In general, the proposals on the circular economy will see 70% of municipal waste and 80% of packaging waste recycled by 2030 and a ban on landfilling recyclable waste from 2025 (non-binding targets). Against this backdrop, the Commission is also looking at setting in place a political framework for phosphorus, following the public consultation launched on the subject last year. The measures under consideration are: support for innovation, improving market conditions and inclusion of the sustainable use of phosphorus in EU legislation on fertiliser, agriculture, water and waste. There are two objectives: reducing the impact of phosphorus on the environment and improving the security of supply. (LC)