MEPs agree to halve food waste by 2030

The resolution, which is based on a report by a Croatian social democrat, suggests over 300 changes and the EU environment committee chose to back up a lot of important suggestions, even if they rejected several of them. The report shows that about 88 million tonnes of food is thrown away every year across Europe. 53 per cent of all food waste comes from households and 19 per cent is lost in food processing.

Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) want the EU executive to design a “common methodology, including minimum quality requirements, for the uniform measurement of the food waste levels” by the end of 2017.

MEPs also want the commission to find new ways of taking care of food that has reached the expiry date. Among other things, the resolution calls for a change in the value-added tax (VAT) directive that would mean almost zero VAT rate for food donations that are made close to the expiry date. MEPs also want the commission to determine if legally-binding food waste reduction targets should be set up.

Source: ENDS Europe, 11 April 2017