EU Platform on Food Losses and Food Waste (FLW): working together to fight food waste
Description
The EU Action Plan for the Circular Economy called on the Commission to establish a Platform dedicated to food waste prevention to support to achieve the SDG 12.3 target and maximise the contribution of all actors along the food supply chain. In the EU around 88 million tonnes of food waste are generated annually – around 20% of all food produced - with related costs estimated at 143 billion€/year. Tackling food waste means working together with public and private sectors in order to find solutions to prevent food waste and optimise use of food resources along the food and feed chain.
The European Commission’s key instrument to achieve the SDG 12.3 target, without compromising food safety, feed safety and/or animal health, is the EU Platform on Food Losses and Food Waste (FLW). The Platform was established in 2016, bringing together all key players from public and private sectors to identify, measure, understand and find solutions to food waste in the complex and dynamic system of the food supply chain. The objective of the Platform is to accelerate EU's progress towards SDG 12.3, by different means: 1) it supports all key players, public and private actors in taking effective measures to prevent and reduce food loss and waste, 2) facilitates inter-sector cooperation, 3) ensures effective sharing of best practices, 4) monitors and assesses the results achieved regarding SDG 12.3 and 5) facilitates regulatory compliance when taking measures to prevent and reduce food losses and food waste by contributing to the elaboration of the guidance documents on food donation and on use of former foodstuffs as animal feed, within the current regulatory framework. <br />
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Preventing food waste can also make an important contribution to other Sustainable Development Goals: tackling climate change (SDG 13); saving nutritious food to give to those in need (SDG 2 – zero hunger); and bringing cost-savings for farmers, companies and households (SDG 8). To that end, reflecting the multi-dimensional nature of the Sustainable Development Agenda, other Commission services and EU bodies such as the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions are also involved in the Platform’s work and implementation of the EU action plan to fight food waste. This entails such areas as agriculture; environment; employment, social affairs and inclusion; health and food safety; climate action; digital agenda; taxation and customs union; international cooperation and development; research etc. There is also close exchange with the European Parliament on this topic. <br />
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Measurement of food waste is critical to the development of effective food waste prevention strategies. In the EU, data on food waste levels are today insufficient to inform such action. The EU Platform on FLW was therefore involved in the development of key concepts underlying the methodology to measure food waste in Member States. The methodology is expected to be adopted as a legal act in March 2019 (as a part of revised waste legislation package). In the area of measurement, the Platform also helps ensure coordination with global efforts to monitor progress towards SDG 12.3, led by UN agencies FAO and UNEP, and facilitates sharing of experiences in quantification of food losses and waste.
The EU Platform on FLW is a “network of networks” fostering transfer of learning and synergies between networks established at local, regional, national, EU and international levels.
The EU Action Plan for the Circular Economy called on the Commission to establish a Platform dedicated to food waste prevention. Thus the EU Platform on FLW was established in 2016, bringing together EU institutions, experts from the EU countries and relevant stakeholders selected through an open call for applications. The selection process ensured that all relevant actors across the food supply chain were represented and could bring their active contribution to the work of the Platform.
The Platform meets twice a year in plenary, while its thematic sub-groups also hold regular meetings according to on-going projects and appropriate regulatory work. To date, four sub-groups have been established to progress work in key areas: food waste measurement, food donation, date marking and action and implementation, the latter being set up at the particular request of members.
The Platform provides advice and expertise to the Commission and Member States in order to improve the coherent implementation and application of EU legislation, programmes and policies with respect to food waste prevention and, where relevant, facilitate preparation of possible policy initiatives. Platform members are actively involved in on-going EU-level projects managed by the Commission, where they provide relevant input and help shape concrete deliverables to support further policy and regulatory work in the area of food losses and food waste at EU level.
A digital network has been established to improve collaboration and exchange between Platform members and with the Commission, and a Community of Experts implemented under Horizon 2020 project REFRESH facilitates sharing of good practice in food waste prevention amongst a broader stakeholder community. A library of resources categorised by theme is kept up to date by the secretariat of the Platform, including members’ contributions and relevant EU policy and legislative documents.
The Platform monitors the activity of its members through sharing of information, learnings and best practices related to food waste prevention. It also provides a forum for exchange on national food waste prevention programmes, monitoring of food waste levels and progress made towards the SDG 12.3 target.
- With the support of the Platform, the Commission adopted EU guidelines to facilitate food donation (2017) and is running a 3-year EU pilot project to promote their implementation on the ground. The project explores existing policy, regulatory and operational frameworks in relation to food redistribution across Member States. The implementation of the Pilot project takes place with the active engagement of Platform members. Findings and recommendations from this project will help inform future action in this field.
- An EU market study on date marking practices of food business operators and regulatory authorities and their possible impact on food waste (published in February 2018), estimates that up to 10% of the 88 million tonnes of food waste generated annually in the EU are linked to date marking. With the support of the Platform’s “Date marking” sub-group, the Commission is considering possible options to simplify date marking and promote better understanding and use of date marking by all actors concerned. An immediate priority is the development of technical guidance to promote coherence in the use of date marking by food business operators and control authorities. Implementation of such guidance should lead to more consistent date marking practices, helping to optimise supply chain management and facilitate consumer understanding (adoption foreseen in 2019).
- On food waste measurement, a dedicated sub-group of the Platform holds regular meetings, discussing different aspects of monitoring of food waste levels. Platform members’ input served as a basis for the Commission to prepare the draft measure on establishing a harmonised food waste measurement methodology at EU level, which was further discussed with Member States’ national competent authorities.
- After addressing immediate actions listed in the EU Circular Economy Action Plan, the Platform has moved towards preparation of its own specific deliverables:
> in 2019, the Platform will adopt a document illustrating the different food donation practices of Member States, to help key players learn from each other’s work and to facilitate food donation at national level, in line with the EU regulatory framework;
> a key project of the Platform’s "Action and implementation" sub-group is underway, and consists of collecting and analysing the effectiveness of food waste prevention initiatives on the basis of a methodology developed by the Commission’s Joint Research Centre. This is critical to support effective action by all players towards the global SDG 12.3 target and contributes to the sustainability of the efforts. The analysis will help the Platform identify best practice in food waste prevention and lay down recommendations for action, at each stage of the supply chain, by end 2019.
On a European level, several EU institutions have helped promote the food losses and food waste prevention agenda, among which the European Parliament (adopting in 2012 and 2017 resolutions addressing the topic), the European Court of Auditors (Special report no 34/2016: Combating Food Waste) and the European Economic and Social Committee (Opinion on prevention and reduction of food waste, 2013). The Council of the EU has also adopted conclusions setting out a series of initiatives to reduce food waste and food losses in 2016, assessing the progress made in their implementation in 2018. Awareness of the issue resulted in general consensus for the important role of the EU Platform on FLW as a driver for EU level action against food losses and food waste, its objectives and direction of work (ie. towards SDG 12.3).
The cross-cutting nature of the food loss and food waste prevention agenda has been both an enabler and a constraint. The work of the Platform falls under the more general topic of sustainability that is gaining considerable momentum as a horizontal topic between EU policies (e.g. the Common Agricultural Policy supports resource efficiency etc.). On the other hand, issues taken up by the Platform have also raised a series of challenges, as Member States had to clarify the competence sphere of the different branches of their national administration, in many cases having to develop new communication channels and working practices to be able to effectively participate in the Platform’s work.
The lack of efficient communication means to facilitate interaction between Platform members and the Commission has been a constraint, which was overcome by developing a digital tool to streamline and enhance such interactions.
Overall, the work of the EU Platform on FLW is limited by the necessary constraint of ensuring food and feed safety. In this sense, the Platform helped clarify EU legislation related to waste, food and feed.
Sustainability:
The Platform is actively promoting the principle of sustainability as a key element for effective food waste prevention initiatives. An on-going pilot exercise aims to collect and analyse the effectiveness of food waste prevention initiatives, while taking into account the financial, environmental and social impacts of the actions received. The analysis will help identify best practices and develop recommendations for action at each stage of the food supply chain, a key deliverable of the Platform in 2019.
The Platform plays a key role in facilitating best practice sharing, in both regulatory and non-regulatory frameworks (e.g. dedicated sessions to inform members about Italian and French legislation in place to combat food waste; setting up voluntary agreements with specific objectives and action plans agreed by actors across the food supply chain etc.). Exchanging experiences and learnings has often proved to be a driver for action (e.g. Sweden organised a workshop for national food business operators on voluntary agreements in light of setting up such an initiative in the country, after having participated in a similar event held by the EU-funded project REFRESH, a collaborator of the Platform). One of the main objectives of the Platform is to facilitate inter-sector cooperation, to help fill in knowledge voids and find innovative solutions across different fields of work, while also closing the gap between decision makers and actors on ground. Concrete examples include collaboration in research projects (e.g. setting up consortiums to apply for research and innovation EU funding), participation in seminars and workshops to share latest knowledge in the field (e.g. REFRESH workshops on setting up national voluntary agreements), exchange of experiences and applied solutions (e.g. the Italian Observatory on Food Waste ran a study on domestic food waste by following methodological considerations developed under the EU-funded REFRESH project), and transfer of expertise (e.g. study visits between national competent authorities in Denmark and the Netherlands).
Replicability
Several Member States have indicated utilising the Platform model and its outputs for their own work at national level (e.g. the Portuguese National Commission to Fight Food Waste uses inputs generated by the Platform to feed debate and actions in Portugal). Overall, members’ feedback show an increase in the number of food waste prevention platforms established on both national and regional levels (e.g. the Basque Platform on Food Waste).
The EU Platform on FLW provides a framework for systematic exchanges between public and private actors of the food supply chain with the aim to reduce and prevent food losses and food waste, serving as a driving force behind the European Commission’s agenda on the matter. Members of the Platform have regular exchanges, in person and through the dedicated digital network, on regulatory and policy aspects to be addressed in the context of food waste prevention, while also focussing on concrete initiatives implemented on the ground. Through its activities, the Platform drives public and private stakeholders in their actions to achieve the SDG 12.3 target, while also contributing to other relevant SDGs, as on climate action (SDG 13); zero hunger (SDG 2); and decent work and economic growth (SDG 8).<br />
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The Platform encourages actions not only within the EU, but also beyond its borders. In the context of best practice exchange between G7 members, the Commission held a webinar on EU level actions against food waste, making the work of the Platform known on a global stage. Based on feedback received from Platform members, it can be concluded that this forum has catalysed inter-sectoral cooperation on key issues between public and private actors, as well as enabled replication and scaling up of initiatives across Member States.<br />
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In the context of the activities of the EU Platform on FLW, the following lessons learned can be listed:<br />
- The importance of clarifying the regulatory environment due to the cross-cutting nature of the area of food waste prevention;<br />
- Measuring food waste through a harmonised methodology is key for public and private stakeholders to be able to monitor progress towards SDG 12.3 and compare the results achieved;<br />
- The paramount importance of systematic sharing of knowledge and best practices has been acknowledged.
The Platform has collaborated with the EU-funded REFRESH project to establish the REFRESH Community of Experts, an online tool for sharing information and best practices in food waste prevention. The website addresses a broader community of interested stakeholders, going beyond the membership of the EU Platform on FLW. The Commission will ensure the continuity of the digital tool beyond the life of the project itself.
The on-going collaboration with the international Champions 12.3 coalition ensures that activities of the EU Platform on FLW are disseminated to a global community of interested stakeholders via a monthly newsletter; while the latter is also published on the Digital Network of the Platform.
News articles on the work of the Platform can be found across members’ communication channels and beyond. Here are some examples, in no particular order and by no means an exhaustive list: the European Food Banks Federation website, FAO’s pages, SLOW FOOD Europe’s website etc.
EU Action Plan for the Circular Economy: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52015DC0614
Deliverables & Timeline
Resources mobilized
Partnership Progress
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Feedback
Action Network
Share
Timeline
Entity
SDGs
Region
- Europe
Geographical coverage
Website/More information
Countries
Contact Information
Lucian Parvulescu, Policy Officer