COMECE welcomes European Parliament resolution on food waste

Source: COMECE

Fr Olivier Poquillon OP, secretary general of COMECE, has issued the following statement on today's adoption of a resolution by the European Parliament on 'Resource efficiency: reducing food waste, improving food safety'.

In recent years Pope Francis has repeatedly spoken out against the scandal of food waste. He criticized a throwaway culture that "made us insensitive to wasting and throwing out excess foodstuffs, which is especially condemnable when many people and families suffer hunger and malnutrition". He specifically addressed the issue of food waste in his speech to the European Parliament in November 2014.

COMECE considers the adoption of the resolution on food waste in the European Parliament a landmark and welcomes it. The own-initiative report is comprehensive and received strong voting by MEPs. Thus, it should encourage the Commission to accelerate its preparatory studies for appropriate legislation and the Council to prepare for bold steps allowing all stakeholders, and especially consumers, to address the scandal of food waste in the European Union.

In fact, an estimated 88 million tonnes of food are wasted in the EU each year, more than half of it occurring in European households. On average, every European is throwing away about 2 kg of food per week.

In its resolution, the European Parliament asks the Commission to consider submitting a legislative proposal by 2020, which would make the Sustainable Development Goal 12.3 of halving food waste by 2030 and setting a legally binding 30% reduction target by 2025. COMECE supports the idea of legally binding targets for food waste at EU level, which are in line with the targets set in the UN Sustainable Development Goals. This supposes, however, that a EU definition of food waste and a method to measure it is in place well before and the Commission could intensify its work in this respect.

Since 53% of food waste in the EU occurs in households, the most important task is to raise awareness among Europeans about the social and environmental consequences of throwing away eatable food. More information about good practises of buying and storing food, as well as of using leftovers needs to be disseminated. Local initiatives have an important role to play in this respect. Parishes and Church movements can contribute to this task.

Furthermore, food donation needs to be simplified and facilitated. The European VAT legislation should be changed to explicitly authorise tax exemptions on food donation and the idea of a 'Good Samaritan' law be explored in order to clarify liability in food donation. New technology may make it easier to bring together those who want to give and those who are in need. In general - as the EP resolution stresses - the lack of capacity for charitable organisations and social services engaged in the delivery of food donations constitutes the most important barrier. This lack should be addressed as a priority at all political levels throughout Europe.