Today, the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications has launched a public consultation on Ireland’s draft National Food Waste Prevention Roadmap. The Roadmap will set out a series of actions – to ultimately halve our food waste by 2030.
Food waste is a global problem that has environmental, social and economic consequences. Growing, processing and transporting food all use significant resources. Food waste can arise for a number of reasons, at different points in the food supply chain. These points include: primary production; manufacturing and processing; restaurants and food services; retail and distribution; and in our homes.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that Ireland generated about 1.1 million tonnes of food waste in 2019.
Tackling food waste is one of the key steps we can take to achieve sustainability, to help combat climate change, and to support the transition to a circular economy. Ireland is committed to reducing food waste by 50% by 2030 – in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The development of a National Food Waste Prevention Roadmap is a key step that will help steer our efforts towards this goal.
The development of a National Food Waste Prevention Roadmap is included as a commitment in Ireland’s Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy and the Government’s 2021 Climate Action Plan.
Commenting on the opening of the consultation, Minister of State with special responsibility for Communications and Circular Economy, Ossian Smyth TD, said:
“Food waste prevention is a climate action that we can all undertake, as part of our everyday behaviour. Every individual, every household, every business and every organisation has a role to play.
“Ireland’s National Food Waste Prevention Roadmap will bring action on food waste prevention, across key sectors in the food supply chain, together in a coherent manner. It will provide a pathway to achieve the goal of reducing food waste by 50% by 2030.”
Key areas of focus in the draft roadmap include establishing Ireland’s baseline data on food waste, from which we will set out to achieve a 50% reduction by 2030. This baseline data will also inform how we set our interim targets.
In addition, the draft roadmap sets out how we will measure and report on food waste. It sets out actions on: food waste segregation; food donation; research; and communications to help households to avoid food waste. The draft roadmap also looks at what the public sector can do, to tackle food waste through improved procurement practices.
Submissions on the draft National Food Waste Prevention Roadmap are now invited from the public and interested stakeholders. The closing time and date for submissions is 5.30pm on Thursday, 24th March 2022.
For information on how to make a submission please see: gov.ie - Public Consultation on the Draft National Food Waste Prevention Roadmap (www.gov.ie) / https://www.gov.ie/en/consultation/96a04-public-consultation-on-the-draft-national-food-waste-prevention-roadmap/.
ENDS
NOTES TO THE EDITOR
Draft National Food Waste Prevention Roadmap content:
The draft National Food Waste Prevention Roadmap sets out information on the following:
- Context on food waste and the components of the food supply chain that are included in the roadmap (primary production; manufacturing and processing; retail and distribution; restaurants and food services; and households);
- How Ireland will establish its national baseline data on food waste, from which we will achieve a 50% reduction by 2030;
- Interim milestones and targets on the way to our 2030 target;
- How we will ensure that a robust national system, for food waste measurement and reporting, is established – in order to meet Ireland’s reporting obligations and to monitor our progress in meeting our UN and EU commitments over the next decade;
- A commitment to work together, enhance food waste measurement, and identify and implement key priority actions along the food supply chain – to help deliver on Ireland’s commitments (on food waste and loss prevention);
- The approach to: food waste segregation; food donation; the role of research and innovation; and green public procurement – in relation to food waste prevention;
- A commitment to deliver sustained communications and awareness on food waste prevention;
- How we will establish a monitoring and evaluation framework, to check progress of key activities and update the roadmap accordingly.
Further information – national action on food waste prevention:
The EPA’s (Environmental Protection Agency’s) National Food Waste Prevention Programme is implemented through the Circular Economy Programme 2021-2027. The programme works across three core areas of: Household; Supply Chain; and Hospitality. Further information is available at: https://www.epa.ie/publications/circular-economy/resources/the-circular-economy-programme-2021-2027.php.
Guidance and tips on household food waste prevention are available through the national campaign: StopFoodWaste.ie (https://stopfoodwaste.ie/).
Information and guidance to support businesses to reduce food waste is available at Ireland’s Food Waste Charter. This is a national initiative that is led by the EPA (https://foodwastecharter.ie/).
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