Food use and waste hierarchy

To reduce food waste, Member States must introduce measures in their food waste prevention programmes. Those measures should be in line with the waste hierarchy as presented in the Waste Framework Directive and prioritise prevention measures over waste management measures.

The Waste Framework Directive emphasises prevention as a priority, beginning with prevention at source, then moving through stages of donation or redistribution of surplus food, use as animal feed, industrial use and finally, moving into waste treatment, which includes recycling and nutrient recovery, energy recovery and finally disposal, only when higher uses are not possible.

To adapt the hierarchy to the food sector, the ‘food use and waste hierarchy’ was developed to clarify which actions accounts for waste ‘prevention’ and which accounts for waste ‘management’.