Mr. David Flynn:

I thank the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach for the invitation to speak with the committee today. I am joined by Mr. Warren Phelan and Ms Fiona McCoole, both of whom work in the EPA’s circular economy programme. As a nation, Ireland is wasting too much food – almost 800,000 tonnes each year. We are not alone in this. The United Nations recently reported that a billion meals are wasted every day across the globe. This is edible food that is lost during production and distribution or is wasted in shops, restaurants and our homes. Wasted food is a triple loss to society: a lost nutritional opportunity, an avoidable contribution of up to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions and needless pressure put on water quality and biodiversity. Most of Ireland’s food waste is generated from non-household sources, such as manufacturing, food service and retail. EPA data shows that 30% comes from our houses and the rest along the supply chain, with 29% from the processing and manufacturing sector, 23% from food service, such as restaurants and cafes, 9% from primary production and 8% from retail and distribution.

Ireland’s ambition is to halve food waste by 2030. That is a reduction of almost 400,000 tonnes. Ireland has made several international commitments to reduce food waste such as under the UN sustainable development goal 12.3. Wasted food is included as a specific focus in the European Union’s circular economy action plan, which is part of the European Green Deal. Food is one of the eight sectors the EU has identified as using a lot of resources and where the potential for circularity is high. To accelerate progress, the European Commission last July proposed legally binding food waste reduction targets for 2030. From an EPA perspective, the key issues are encouraging business and households to improve prevention at source; to encourage the redistribution of unavoidable surplus food, the diversion of material to use in other food and non-food products; the recovery of nutrients and energy, via composting and anaerobic digestion, collection for recovery; and as a final, least preferable, option disposal. The provision of an organic waste bin, or so-called "brown bin", to all households is an important step to avoid this final disposal option. At the moment, only 69% of households have a separate kerbside bin collection service for organic waste.

The EPA protects, improves and restores Ireland’s environment through regulation, by providing scientific knowledge and working with others. The EPA has a wide range of statutory responsibilities including: licensing; national enforcement; climate change; administering the EU emissions trading systems, ETS; circular economy and waste management; water protection; environmental monitoring; chemicals in the environment; environmental research; and radiological protection. The EPA’s activities to drive down food waste follow the national food waste prevention roadmap. The EPA’s key roles on food waste include: annual reporting of food waste data and statistical insights; communications and awareness; running the food waste charter; and guidance and behavioural research. The EPA has statutory reporting responsibilities on food waste statistics, including degeneration and treatment.

We now report annually to the European Commission on food waste statistics. These national statistics show that Ireland generates a significant amount of food waste each year, representing 4% or 753,000 tonnes of the total waste generated, which is 17 million tonnes. The vast majority of this waste is construction and demolition waste. Data for reporting years 2020 and 2021 show a similar scale of food waste from each part of the supply chain. Based on 2021 data, Ireland's food wasteper capita, at 154 kg, is 18% higher than the current EU average of 113 kgper capita. Ireland generates 3.71 million tonnes of municipal waste from households and commercial premises. Some 15% of this municipal waste was treated by composting or anaerobic digestion which was an increase of 39% on 2020 figures. The EPA characterisation studies show that food waste makes up 17% of a general household bin and 27% of a commercial waste bin. Better segregation at source will facilitate greater capture of this food waste and lead to improved rates of recovery and recycling.

The EPA carries out a range of communication, education and awareness activities focused on food use and preventing food waste. Our activities include, the consumer-facing Stop Food Waste educational programme, as well as national Stop Food Waste Day, which we run on 1 March each year. We also administer the food waste charter, which is a national initiative, led by the EPA, in co-operation with the Government and five State agencies. It is a voluntary agreement whereby food-supply-chain businesses pledge to measure their food waste, set a target and take action to prevent food waste. A key focus of the EPA's food waste prevention programmes has been to develop standard methods for measuring food waste in the food and drink manufacturing sectors for hospitality and food services. The EPA has produced guidance and step-by-step checklists and case studies for bakeries, consumer goods and for the seafood sector. We are also in the process of preparing other guidance for other sectors.

Our food waste prevention activities are supported by behavioural insights, recognising that evidence about behaviours and attitudes to food waste is needed to inform communication campaigns, policy development and calls to action. Prevention is always the best option to reduce food waste. Understanding where and why food waste is generated within a business is essential to setting targets and taking appropriate actions. This includes designing efficiencies into food production processes to: reduce the input of resources; reduce the amount of produce rejected at intake; look at opportunities for value-added products from production residues and offcuts; encourage collaboration across the full supply chain; redistribute surplus food and use data to improve food planning and ordering. Where food waste is generated, it should always be separately collected in a segregated organic waste bin, for recovery of its nutrients and energy resources. Halving the amount of food waste by 2030 is a particularly challenging target. However, reducing food waste has multiple benefits. Individuals need to be supported with options and information to make sustainable choices. Food waste must also be addressed at a systems level, where businesses along the full supply chain and food services sector must all play their part. Go raibh míle maith agaibh.