Supermarkets conclude pact against food waste
On Tuesday, the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) concluded an agreement with 14 wholesale and retail companies, including Lidl, Edeka, Aldi and Rewe, to reduce food waste. In the agreement, the signatory companies commit to reducing food waste by 30 percent by 2025 and then by 50 percent by 2030 - both within their own companies and at the interfaces to the upstream and downstream areas of the food supply chain. According to the BMEL, the retail sector accounted for seven percent of food waste in Germany in 2020.
"Retailers and my ministry have joined forces to tackle food waste in Germany with determination," explained Federal Minister of Agriculture Cem Özdemir (Greens). "We are entering into a pact to ensure that our valuable food ends up in the pot and on the plate - instead of in the garbage can. "This pact is a voluntary target agreement.
https://news.pro.earth/2022/10/17/lebensmittelverschwendung/
Content of the agreement between the BMEL and the supermarket chains
- Reduce food waste by 30% by 2025 and by 50% by 2030
- Passing on food that is still edible in the form of a "donation obligation", primarily to social institutions such as food banks, but also to intermediary platforms and employees
- Avoiding food waste through the circular economy
- Concrete measures for Reduction of surpluses, for example
- the sale of fruit and vegetables with blemishes,
- Consumer awareness measures,
- Training measures for relevant personnel
- Measures to optimize the process, logistics and cold chain, to sell goods close to the best-before date at reduced prices, and
- Measures to support the distribution of surplus food
Transparent and binding implementation of the agreement
The BMEL states on its website that accountability is verified by the Thünen Institute for Market Analysis(TI) as an independent scientific institution within the BMEL's remit.
Voluntariness is a "blunt sword"
The "Alliance for Food Rescue" welcomes the targets, but considers the voluntary commitment to be a blunt sword with no legal sanctions. The alliance is calling on the German government to introduce legally binding measures to halve food waste by 2030 that apply along the entire supply chain. A look at other countries shows that voluntary target agreements do not lead to the necessary changes and need to be tightened up with regulatory measures. In addition, only comprehensive reporting by individual companies can lead to sufficient transparency with regard to food waste.
Sascha Müller-Kraenner, Federal Managing Director of Deutsche Umwelthilfe, comments: "The food trade and the German government have agreed on a voluntary commitment that only looks good on paper. Instead of focusing on the upstream retail supply chain, production and processing remain completely without reduction targets. Retailers can therefore continue to exploit their supremacy to shift the food waste they cause to the rest of the supply chain through trade standards. Minister Cem Özdemir must finally set legally binding targets against food waste for the entire supply chain."
The situation in Austria
The amendment to the Waste Management Act (AWG), which was passed this May, requires supermarkets to report to the Ministry of the Environment on a quarterly basis how much food they throw away and donate. We have reported on this in the following article.
https://news.pro.earth/2023/06/02/meldepflicht-fuer-supermaerkte-zum-verbleib-von-noch-geniessbaren-lebensmitteln/
Further links
Agreement between BMEL and supermarkets
