The European Commission estimates that up to 140 million tonnes of food and plant rubbish are produced each year in the EU, amounting to 300 kg per person – two thirds of which is edible.
In a resolution set to be approved today (19 January), MEPs argue that such levels are unsustainable.
MEP Salvatore Caronna (Socialists and Democrats, Italy) told a news conference in Strasbourg yesterday (18 January) the Commission should move quickly to develop a food waste strategy.
“For the first time a European institution is raising the point and it is going to goad the other institutions to act as well,” said Caronna, the parliamentary rapporteur for the resolution. “Now the ball is in the Commission’s court and the Commission is going to have to very swifty come up with replies.”
MEPs want to cut food waste by half in the EU through measures such as encouraging small- and medium-scale farming and crop production that is geared to local market demand. They also call for rethinking expiry dates on packaged foods.
The resolution calls food waste unethical in a world facing population growth and rising nutritional challenges in poor countries that are particularly vulnerable to a climate changes.
“The demand for food as you look forward might well be more than the actual supply of food and the ability to be able to produce it, and we have to integrate that into our thinking,” Caronna said.
Although food manufacturing and processing industries account for the largest single source of waste, households and restaurants combined are far more frivolous. By comparison, supermarkets are relatively efficient, says a report by the Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC).
The resolution was approved by the Parliament’s agriculture committee on 23 November. It calls for the European Commission and members states to:
- Take “radical measures” to reduce waste – “from farm to fork” - by 50% before 2025.
- Improve enforcement of existing EU and national government sanitation laws that mandate recycling of bio-degradable waste.
- Set food waste-prevention targets for member states under the current waste-reduction target to be in place by 2014.
- Declare 2013 the 'European Year Against Food Waste'
Food packaging and labelling
MEPs are also encouraging changes to food packaging to reduce confusion over “best buy”, “sell by” and “use by” labels found on most packaged products.
But such measures may only have limited impact. There is little wiggle room in expiry dates, with consumer groups and retailers themselves wary of health risks and choosy buyers overlooking foods that are not at peak freshness.
The Commission has already taken steps to address some of the MEPs’ concerns, such as setting targets to eliminate landfill disposal by 2020.
“Food waste is environmentally bad, economically bad and morally bad,” William Neale, a member of Environment Commissioner Janez Potočnik’s cabinet, said at a recent forum on food waste.
He acknowledged that eliminating landfilling by 2020 is “a quite ambitious goal,” but said cutting food waste could go a long way in reaching the target. Food and other bio-degradable waste, such as garden clippings, account for 40% of landfill disposal across the EU, according to the JRC.
Neale said there was a moral imperative to cut down on waste. Food scraps from Italy alone, he said, could address the nutritional deficit in Ethiopia, where more than 4 million people faced hunger last year in one of the worst droughts in half a century.
Food also plays a role in addressing the Commission’s push for wiser resource use, Neale said, noting that more efficient food production saves water, fuels and pesticides. Organic waste could also be redirected from dumps to produce compost and energy from bio-gas.
COMMENTS
This is the first time that I have read of a real statement from the EU (European Union) about the issue of Waste derived from food sources but the way that this is presented in the EurActiv article covers up a small flaw in presentation and the reporting.
You have quoted the following -
The European Commission estimates that up to 140 million tonnes of food and plant rubbish are produced each year in the EU, amounting to 300 kg per person – two thirds of which is edible.
Whilst this article states “Parliament pushes to slash food waste in Europe” unfortunately the details are somewhat misleading for it conveys a message that this is 140 Million tonnes and inadvertently compromises that message by stating later on that it includes “food and plant rubbish.” I have attempted to reconcile these figures with those produced by DEFRA within the UK and on their base the figures for Food Waste (6.7 Million tonnes valued at €12 Billion from 60 Million people) would suggest that your figure should be over 51 Million tonnes as pure Food Waste! None-the-less, Sirs, this is still a shocking indictment for this is a huge amount, and at the current time it is possibly worth up to €90 Billion per year!
We all therefore welcome the fact that there will be a major attempt to reduce the quantity of Food Waste we produce in the EU, but this is not just an issue in the EU, it is a world-wide one and it is inevitable that there will always be some food waste: it is inevitable. What we have to do is accept the fact that there will always be some and the question has to be asked “How much?” and “what is an acceptable amount?” In respect of the other sector, plant based waste, we have to accept that it will always be around to some degree.
During the past two years or so various articles and comments within this journal EurActiv (and its sister publication BlogActiv) have variously brought to our attention that across the EU (and elsewhere) there is a concern that needs addressing. Although these quantities are large as a fraction of the total quantity of organic wastes being produced throughout the EU at over 300 Million tonnes per annum it is a relatively small proportion. And by the time we add in all the other sources of Biomass found in Wastes across the EU smaller still!
One of the concerns also expressed, here, in this article is the effect these sources of Biomass have on total GHG (Green House Gas) emissions in the EU. I do not think enough serious address is being made to answer these effects. The calculations for the GHG emissions and their prevention are tied up with a reluctance to be realistic. In the current system these calculations have in themselves have always been of concern to me for they appear to grossly under-estimate the reality. A simple system based upon a chemical mass balance of the effects of the degradation of Biomass (Ligno-Cellulose) which continues to be dumped year in year out for a typical period of calculation at 15 years confirms that each 1.5 Million tonnes of Biomass (dry mass) produces 1 Million tonnes of tCO2eq per year! This is a significant upsizing of the current estimates calculated by other means, and little if any address is made to take note of this. The calculations for this are being used in a number of scenarios for presenting this both under the Voluntary and CDM applications to the UNFCC which I have been reviewing in the applications by others.
So then how can we deal with this issue? The article suggests reducing waste quantities being Dumped in Land Fill sites by 2020! Is this credible? It is almost certainly unlikely. What we can do though is look at the joined up thinking process of trying to deal with the issue as one. We are reducing the quantities of waste being dumped in land fill sites by the application of the “4Rs” (Rethink, Reuse, Reduce, and Recycle) but even then we can only go so far. For the residues which are dominated by Biomass the most logical in most people's opinions is to convert this to its most valued use consistent with meeting environmental objectives the Renewable Transport fuels.
We are currently embarking on this in a major campaign within the EU where our family of Companies in their local practices are developing this option in a major roll out to convert this wasted biomass to the production of the Biofuels Ethanol and Butanol. This system uses the oldest and simplest procedures dilute acid hydrolysis (discovered in 1826) which was used extensively during the 20th Century but remained caught in a time warp when oil became king. It has been updated and made continuous by the founder of the originating company Genesyst Intl. Inc. by its founder James Titmas CEO and Chairman. As a result the process is much more efficient and cost effective. Several major projects being developed, and in brief these are:-
(i) Hardenberg (Netherlands - by Genesyst Netherlands) for converting Biomass from Municipal and Agricultural Waste to Ethanol and Methane and Furfural; and then
(ii) by Genesyst UK in [a] Malta the first plant for converting Biomass from various sources to make Ethanol and two more using similar sources to make Butanol and Aviation Fuels; [b] South Milford (Yorkshire) using Biomass from Municipal Sources and Food Waste to make Ethanol and Goole to make Butanol Ethanol and Methane; and
(iii) in the wider arena in Canada, Houston and Kentucky (USA), VietNam, the Middle East and North Africa.
With the change in emphasis and need for “sustainable sourcing” the demand for Biofuels from using Biomass derived from Waste (including Food Waste) removes the uncertainty that has created the malaise of the Food versus Fuel debate to which we in our Company gave lectures during early 2005 onwards to 2007. This subject has continued to become an even greater issue in the EU and World. Now it repeats itself in in the débâcle of these major Grain to Ethanol plants in the EU being unable to compete in the market as a result of the high raw material (grain) costs and the demand for food being the dominant issue and determinant of cost. This is the consequence of that “Mad dash for Biofuels” which we all predicted would result, and is continuing because of the shortages of such crops due to flooding and drought around the World. Is it any surprise that Ethanol is now being shipped from the USA to Brazil because sugar is worth more as a food!
We have said all along that using Biomass from Waste (the ultimate Non-Food Source) is the way forward, and although this article highlights one facet of the issue that there are large quantities of Food and Plant Waste available in the EU we should also bear in mind that this is a potential real source for aiming to make the EU self-sufficient in transport fuels from the non-food and non-oil sources.
With these quantities of Food Waste around in the EU and the Garden Waste we have a major problem.
Now we see a real chance to address these issues by both reducing the quantities. This is a must but then there must be a holistic approach.
We are - as stated - using too many food crops to make our biofuels, and with the price of wheat skyrocketing out of all proportion is it at all surprising that the project we hear of a plant in Teesside (England) has now been closed down for good and the loss of 400 to 600 jobs. Now we also read that the equivalent in Rotterdam (Holland) has also been closed down as well with an equal loss of 400 jobs. It now looks like there will be others in the EU (the plant in Humberside England is the next to go the same way, as well as those in Spain and France etc.) They will all suffer the same fate. They were destined to fail the test financially from the start because of the foolish belief of the company directors and their bankers that they were sustainable. With the Tees plant being rumoured to be banked by RBS this will add further woes to that bailout by the British Government.
We need here some sort of coordinated approach to these problems and I see a solution here in the company like this one assisting these projects by using its technology and changing the source of material to make them viable. It would at least retain the ideal of making the biofuel ethanol in these desperate times where unemployment is so rife. Is anyone thinking on these lines and doing anything about it? Come on someone, obviously no one reads this journal!
This is surely a farce. All this food waste.
There is an obvious solution here and a ready made one to boot. Convert the plant to make bioethanol from wastes. This is a ready solution.
How can any company making bioetheanol from wheat survive when the raw material costs so much? Now we hear rumoured from the banks that as a result of this in Tees side that this closyre will create massive job losses as well as leave banks like RBS a debt of £100 million.
It is refreshing to see the EU taking a strong stance with the commonly overlooked food waste issue. One potential solution has been developed by Fenugreen (www.fenugreen.com) who has come up with a new, inexpensive, and natural way to combat waste. Fenugreen’s FreshPaper is an all-natural and biodegradable solution to the massive global challenge of food spoilage. This new technology is naturally anti-microbial and extends the shelf life of produce by 2-4x, if used properly this could reduce produce waste in the EU by over 50%.
What an interesting debate here. Does anyone read these articles?
Using new paper that allows the food to be ventilated without toxins entering is a good way forward. It is definitely not new. We do this already in Italy.
I think making this waste into Bioethanol though has more attractions as the quantities are so large. It is about to happen in Malta (just 150 km from here) and it is about to happen in Morocco and Egypt (not sure if it is the same Company though) and as an invester co-ordinator I have asked colleagues from the Middle East and China to have a look as this has major potential.
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