According to Euractiv, nearly 60 million tonnes of food waste are generated annually in the EU. Lawmakers have now reached a provisional agreement establishing the first-ever EU-wide targets for reducing food waste.

As part of a revision of the EU’s Waste Framework Directive, the Parliament and the Council have agreed to introduce mandatory reduction targets that EU countries must meet by the end of 2030.

Food waste at the retail and consumer levels should be reduced by 30% per capita compared to 2021-2023. Meanwhile, food processors and manufacturers should cut waste by 10% over the same period.

The European Parliament’s lead negotiator on this file, Polish MEP Anna Zalewska (ECR), stated that the agreed targets are "feasible and realistic" for EU countries to implement, adding that the agricultural sector would not be negatively impacted by these measures. Under the agreement, EU countries will have the freedom to choose their methods to achieve these targets.

With nearly 60 million tonnes of food waste generated in the EU each year and only six years left to meet the UN’s 2030 goal of halving food waste, lawmakers have been under pressure to deliver results.

However, NGOs from the Prevent Waste Coalition (PWC) in the EU remain dissatisfied with the outcome of the negotiations.

Martin Bowman from the environmental group Feedback EU stated that with these targets, Brussels is "essentially planning to fail" in meeting its international commitments.

Bowman also expressed disappointment that co-legislators did not act sooner on the Commission’s proposal, which dates back to July 2023.

"The responsibility for this lies particularly with the EU Council for delaying negotiations and then pushing for weak targets," he said.

Nonetheless, PWC still welcomed this milestone as not only the EU’s first legally binding food waste reduction targets but also among the first of their kind worldwide.