10 priorities to reduce food waste

Together Against Food Waste calls for UN Food Systems Summit 2021

In order to halve food waste by 2030 - a United Nations sustainable development goal - major steps still need to be taken. Sometimes legislation or (European) policy stands in the way. Wherever possible and safe, politics, government and industry must change those ground rules. In that case, entrepreneurs can make even better efforts to waste as little as possible and value residual flows optimally. The Dutch foundation Samen Tegen Voedselverspilling (Together Against Food Waste) makes this appeal during an international meeting in Wageningen on 24 November 2020, in the run-up to the United Nations Food Summit in 2021. 

Top 10 rules to change

In collaboration with Wageningen University & Research, the Samen Tegen Voedselverspilling selected 10 promising rules/priorities for change after a broad and transparent consultation round.

On 24 November 2020, Toine Timmermans, director of the foundation Samen Tegen Voedselverspilling, made an appeal in the run-up to the UN Food Systems Summit in 2021: "In the Netherlands, the business community, government and research have been working together on a single agenda within the foundation Samen Tegen Voedselverspilling for some time now. With this public-private partnership, we want to be a world example. Not only the chain and consumers must change, but policy makers too must take the step towards a more sustainable food system in which valuable raw materials are structurally better utilised".

For example, it must become possible to use kitchen waste containing (traces of) animal products in animal feed in a safe way for humans and animals. If this European legislation is amended, billions of extra kilos of residual waste can be re-used in the EU. Another change advocated by the foundation is the use of smart technology, which will result in fewer products in the chain being rejected. The entire top 10 can be found here (Dutch only).