Brussels – The Environment Committee of the European Parliament has unanimously supported a resolution calling on EU member states to reduce their food waste by 50% by 2030, and has asked the Commission to consider legally binding food waste targets to be introduced from 2020.
The Committee’s position notes that around 90 million tonnes of food are wasted each year. Of this, 53% comes from households, 19% is in processing, 12% in catering, 10% at the point of production and 5% at retail.
The Committee called for a common methodology for measuring food waste levels, as well as clear definitions of what constitutes food waste. The resolution also called for changes to the VAT Directive to allow food donations to be tax exempt, if the food is close to its recommended use-by date.
Several amendments were rejected, however, including a ban on landfilling and incinerating food waste and a call for reducing food imports.
For more information, see the EP’s Press Release.