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Food Safety

EU actions against food waste

What we are doing

The European Commission is taking the issue of tackling food waste very seriously. Reducing food waste has enormous potential for reducing the resources we use to produce the food we eat. Being more efficient will save food for human consumption, save money and lower the environmental impact of food production and consumption.

The EU is committed to meeting the Sustainable Development Goal Target 12.3  to halve per capita food waste at the retail and consumer level by 2030, and reduce food losses along the food production and supply chains.

The Commission has already carried out important steps to prevent food losses and waste, in line with the actions put forward under the first Circular Economy Action Plan adopted in 2015. These actions include elaborating a common EU methodology to measure food waste consistently; establishing the EU Platform on Food Losses and Food Waste; taking measures to clarify EU legislation related to waste, food and feed and facilitate food donation and use of food no longer intended for human consumption in animal feed; and examining ways to improve the use of date marking by actors in the food chain and its understanding by consumers.

The Farm to Fork Strategy, adopted in 2020 by the Commission as part of the European Green Deal, put forwards actions to enable the transition to a sustainable EU food system, including reducing food loss and waste.

Timeline

  1. 2015

    Publication of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development, which includes the SDG target 12.3 “By 2030, halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses”.

  2. December 2015

    Communication on Circular Economy, with Food waste reduction identified as a priority area for action.

  3. November 2016- December 2021
  4. October 2017
  5. December 2019

    Key recommendations from the EU Platform on food losses and Food Waste.

  6. May 2020

    Farm to Fork Strategy to step up action to prevent food loss and waste across the EU.

  7. September 2021
  8. October 2021- June 2024

    Launch of the European Consumer Food Waste Forum project, with the aim to tackle food waste at consumption level (both in- and out-of-home).

  9. January 2022- December 2026

    Second mandate of the EU Platform on food losses and Food Waste.

  10. April 2022

    Launch of the yearly action grants, under the Single Market Programme, to help Member States and stakeholders improve food waste measurement and implement FW prevention actions, in collaboration with the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA).

  11. December 2022 – February 2023

    European citizens’ panel on food waste, resulting in 23 recommendations for the Commission, Member States and stakeholders.

  12. July 2023

    Commission adoption of a proposal to set legally binding food waste reduction targets as part of the revision of the Waste Framework Directive [ongoing negotiations between the co-legislators].

  13. June 2024

    Publication of the digital toolkit to support consumer food waste actions, based on the compendium.

  14. September 2024

    Campaign "Zero Waste, More Taste!" with recipes from chefs across the EU.

Collaboration with EU member states and stakeholders

The Commission is engaging in discussions with industry, consumer and other NGOs, research institutes and EU countries policy experts how to reduce food loss and waste and options for possible EU actions. 

EU Food Waste Action Grants

Since 2022, the Commission has awarded over €11.5 million in action grants under the Single Market Programme, to help Member States and stakeholders improve food waste measurement and implement Food Waste prevention actions, in collaboration with the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA). This includes three sets of grants, the first aimed at national competent authorities, the second towards private and public stakeholders, and the third is an action grant to support the activities of the European Food Banks Federation.

EU funding for research on food losses and food waste

Through the Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe programme, the Commission funded 12 projects aimed at the research and development of innovative solutions to tackle food waste across the EU and beyond. For example, €55 million was allocated to food waste projects under the topic “Fair, healthy and environment-friendly food systems from primary production to consumption” (2021-2024).  These funded projects focusing on harmonised measurement and monitoring methods, projects exploring market solutions to prevent food waste related to marketing standards, projects that look at the link between food waste and the climate, and more.