More effective efforts at a national level are needed to reduce food waste across Europe, according to a European Environment Agency (EEA) report.
Approximately 132kg of food waste per person was generated across the EU in 2022 amounting to just over 59 million tonnes of food waste, according to the EEA report ‘Preventing waste in Europe – Progress and challenges, with a focus on food waste’.
The assessment gives the latest bi-annual check-up on waste prevention actions via data and trends the EEA does in support of the EU’s Waste Framework Directive.
It found that EU Member States have taken action to prevent food waste by investing in monitoring, awareness and education campaigns.
However, the use of regulatory measures or market-based measures, such as subsidies and financial incentives to prevent food waste, remains limited.
To accelerate progress, a better understanding of prevention actions’ effectiveness and tracking of progress is needed, the EEA report says.
The report argues that waste prevention strategies should be better integrated into climate and biodiversity policies and measures.
It states that Member States should also follow guidance from the ‘food use hierarchy’, which stresses more efficient use and reuse of food products. For example, surplus food should be donated or processed into animal feed instead of being recycled.
According to the report, food waste accounts for around 16% of total greenhouse gas emissions from the EU’s food system.
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