On Monday 6 May, the European Commission announced that it had adopted a delegated act at the end of last week to establish a new common methodology for measuring the volume of food waste at national level. Objective: to allow a better quantification of food waste at European level through a common definition of food waste, and thus a "more coherent" common action.
"I am pleased to see the EU developing the first ever comprehensive food waste measurement methodology and blazing the trail globally", said the first Vice-President of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans.
The relatively short delegated act (5 articles), adopted on Friday 3 May, defines the methodology for measuring waste over the entire life cycle of a foodstuff (primary production, processing and manufacturing, retail and other distribution of food, restaurants and food services, households).
According to the provisions of the Act, Member States must measure annually the quantity of food waste produced in a total quantity of the calendar year in metric tonnes of fresh mass.
In addition, Member States will have to provide the European Commission with information on the methods used to measure food waste at each stage of the food supply chain, but also on any significant changes in the methods used compared to previous methods.
The delegated act will enter into force within 20 days of publication in the Official Journal of the European Union during the second half of 2019. Member States will need to put in place a monitoring framework, with a first report in 2020, with a view to publishing first definitive results on food waste levels by mid-2022. The Commission with the assistance of the EU Platform on Food Loss and Waste will monitor the implementation of the delegated act.
The delegated act follows the revision of the Waste Directive adopted in May 2018 (see EUROPE 12024/25).
The EU Action Plan aims to contribute to the achievement of the global objective of sustainable development 12.3, namely to reduce food waste per capita at the retail and consumer level by half by 2030.
According to the European research project FUSIONS, 20% of the food produced in the EU is wasted every year, or 88 million tonnes at an estimated cost of 143 billion euros. More than 50% of food waste comes from households. Other sectors contributing to food waste are food processing (19%), food services (12%), production (11%) and wholesale and retail trade (5%).
At present, some 43 million people in the EU cannot afford a quality meal (meat, chicken, fish or vegetarian equivalent) every two days, the European Commission points out.
To consult the delegated act: https://bit.ly/2JgjE9n (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)