Stop food waste in Europe #StopFoodWaste

Movement:#ChangingEurope19: European citizens take action

The Issue

Across Europe, over 80 million people live below the poverty line.

Many people struggle to even feed their families and yet every supermarket in Europe throws away an average of more than 40kg of unsold food every day!

Thanks to a huge petition on Change.org launched by Arash Derambarsh, a municipal councillor in Courbevoie, France introduced a new law requiring supermarkets to donate unsold food to charity. This French victory has created an echo around the world.

It's now time to step up the campaign and call for European legislation to stop food waste in every country in Europe.

That's why we've launched this petition asking the European Union to introduce a new directive calling on every supermarket to give its unsold food to a charity of its choice.

I've been writing and campaigning about food waste for years and founded the organisation Feedback. The amount of food we waste in the UK and around the world is staggering. I'm not talking about rotten food - I’m talking about edible food that is being wasted on a huge scale.
That's why I have decided to join Arash in his campaign to make food waste history across Europe.

The European Commission is preparing a new "circular economy strategy” that will include how Europe should deal with food waste. It is a fantastic opportunity to make our voices heard on this issue.

A public consultation has been launched. We want hundreds of thousands of people to sign this petition to ask the European Commission to include an obligation for supermarkets to donate their unsold food to charity in its new strategy. The petition will strengthen calls from citizens around Europe during this consultation period.

Sign and share this petition! Together, let's stop food waste in Europe!

This petition is part of a European campaign working with the NGOs Action against Hunger and the French Red Cross. This petition has been launched in 6 other countries in Europe by people who, like us, want to end the food waste.

Tristram Stuart, Founder FeedbackPetition Starter

Media enquiries

1,654,373

The Issue

Across Europe, over 80 million people live below the poverty line.

Many people struggle to even feed their families and yet every supermarket in Europe throws away an average of more than 40kg of unsold food every day!

It's now time to step up the campaign and call for European legislation to stop food waste in every country in Europe.

That's why we've launched this petition asking the European Union to introduce a new directive calling on every supermarket to give its unsold food to a charity of its choice.

Sign and share this petition! Together, let's stop food waste in Europe!

Tristram Stuart, Founder FeedbackPetition Starter

Media enquiries

Support now

1,654,373

The Decision Makers

Vytenis Andriukaitis,

Commissioner for Health and Food Safety - European Commission

Responded

“Dear Petitioner, Thank you for submitting to Commissioner Andriukaitis your petition on 'Stop food waste in Europe'. The Commissioner has asked me to reply on his behalf. Let me assure you that the Commission is conscious about the magnitude of food waste in Europe and at global level. This is also the reason why the Commission is fully committed to lead EU efforts to fight food losses and waste at all level of the food supply chain and is already implementing initiatives which address many aspects in order to prevent food losses and waste. The Sustainable Development Goal of the United Nations 12.3 calls for a reduction of food waste by 50% by 2030 at retail and consumer levels and reduction of food losses all along the production and supply¹. As part of the Circular Economy Action Plan², the Commission is taking initiatives to support efforts of all actors in reaching the Sustainable Development Goal food waste target by: elaborating a harmonised methodology to measure food waste; developing EU guidelines to facilitate food donation as well as the safe use of former foodstuffs as feed; and examining ways to improve the use of date marking³. In particular, the future EU guidelines on food donation will clarify and facilitate the implementation of relevant provisions for food donation in EU legislation. The European Commission established the EU Platform on Food Losses and Food Waste to mobilise all actors for reaching the global food waste reduction target (http://ec.europa.eu/food/safety/food_waste/eu_actions/eu-platform_en). This Platform is a key element of the Circular Economy Action Plan and of the overall policy response to food waste prevention, bringing together key actors representing private and public interests (http://ec.europa.eu/food/safety/food_waste/eu_actions/eu-platform/platform-members_en). It accelerates progress of all actors through sharing of best practices and is expected to identify new initiatives and opportunities to address food waste prevention at EU level. In order to be effective, food waste prevention requires action at all levels - global, EU, national, regional and local - and engagement of all key players in the food value chain. Please be reassured that the Commission is fully committed to lead the necessary efforts in this respect at EU level. Yours sincerely, Sabine Juelicher 1 United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12.3: halve per capita food waste at the retail and consumer level by 2030 and reduce food losses along the food production and supply chains including post-harvest losses 2 COM(2015)614 3 A study to research date marking practices by industry and control authorities was launched in 2016 which, together with consumer research and other findings, will help inform future policy making (https://ec.europa.eu/food/sites/food/files/safety/docs/fw_eu_actions_tech-specs_2016-el- 024_annex2.pdf)”

Vytenis Andriukaitis

Commissioner for Health and Food Safety - European Commission

Responded