MEPs on the European Parliament’s Environment Committee have pushed for more ambitious EU food waste reduction targets.
Binding waste reduction targets by 2030 should be at least 20% in food processing and manufacturing and 40% per capita in retail, restaurants, food services and households, MEPs said.
The latter would be in comparison to the annual average between 2020 and 2022. In the EU, 60 million tonnes of food waste, or 131kg per person, are generated annually.
EU countries would need to ensure that these targets are achieved at national level by December 31, 2030. However, Ireland already has a 50% food waste reduction target in place for 2030.
EU food waste reduction targets
Solutions to reduce food waste provided by the MEPs include promoting “ugly” fruits and vegetables, clarifying date labelling and donating unsold-but-consumable food.
The food waste reduction targets proposed by the MEPs are higher then the ones proposed by the European Commission in its revision of the Waste Framework Directive.
MEPs also want the commission to evaluate the possibility and make appropriate legislative proposals to introduce higher targets for 2035 of at least 30% and 50% respectively.
The environment committee earlier this week adopted its position on the revision of the directive proposed by the commission by 72 votes to four, and three abstentions.
The full parliament is scheduled to vote on its position during the plenary session next month. The file will be followed up by the new parliament after the EU elections on June 6-9.
Textile waste
The proposed revision of the Waste Framework Directive also concerns textile waste. A total of 12.6 million tonnes of textile waste are generated across the EU every year, EU figures show.
Clothing and footwear account for 5.2 million tonnes of waste, or 12kg of waste per person every year. It is estimated that less than 1% of all textiles worldwide are recycled into new products.
The new rules, as adopted by MEPs, would set up extended producer responsibility schemes through which economic operators placing textiles on the EU market would cover the costs for their separate collection, sorting and recycling.
Under the parliament’s proposal, EU countries would need to ensure, by January 1, 2025, the separate collection of textiles for re-use, preparing for re-use and recycling.
These rules would cover clothing and accessories, blankets, bed linen, curtains, hats, footwear, mattresses and carpets, including products that contain textile-related materials such as leather, rubber or plastic.