Mr. Brian Quirke:

I thank the Acting Chairperson and members for the invitation to meet with the committee today to discuss the circular economy as it relates to the food sector. As we are all aware, the circular economy is about looking at our throw-away economy and recognising that there is a better way and that it is possible to break the cycle of wasteful resource extraction, unsustainable consumption and unnecessary disposal. In environmental terms, the essential reason for a circular economy is that this "take-make-waste" business model is not sustainable, with global resource consumption, outstripping the planet's natural resource capacity. Increasing extraction of natural resources and disposal of waste is a major contributor to habitat and biodiversity loss and contributes to global warming. Achieving a circular economy will play a crucial role in reducing global carbon impact and protecting natural resources and environment and health. Tackling food waste is one of the key steps we need to take to achieve sustainability, help combat climate change and to support our transition to a circular economy.

The use of circular economy and bioeconomy approaches and the waste hierarchy to address food waste requires a strategic and collaborative approach to find solutions across the entire food system rather than continuing to operate within single linear supply and consumption chains.

In line with the food waste hierarchy, our top priority is to prevent food waste. Food waste can occur at any point along the food supply chain, from primary production, processing and manufacturing to retail and distribution, restaurants and food services, and households. Ireland is committed to reducing food waste by 50% by 2030, in line with the United Nations sustainable development goals. The publication of the first national food waste prevention roadmap is a key step that is helping to steer our efforts towards this goal. It sets out a number of priority actions to bring the focus on food waste prevention across key sectors in the food supply chain together in a coherent manner. In terms of responsibilities for key sectors, the first roadmap is focusing on a voluntary approach, particularly in terms of measuring and reporting of food waste. The effectiveness of this approach is being kept under review. New proposed EU targets to reduce food waste that are currently being considered at EU level, the establishment of baseline data and developments in relation to food waste measurement and reporting will inform further focused actions on food waste prevention into the future.

The National Food Waste Prevention Roadmap 2023-2025 includes detail on how Ireland will establish its national baseline data on food waste from which we will achieve a 50% reduction by 2030; the approach to interim milestones and targets on the way to that 2030 target; and how we will ensure a robust national system for food waste measurement and reporting is established in order to meet Ireland’s reporting obligations and to monitor Ireland’s progress in meetings its UN and EU commitments over the next decade. It also contains a commitment to work together to enhance food waste measurement and identify and implement key priority actions along the food supply chain to help deliver on Ireland’s commitments on food loss and food waste prevention; details on the approach to food waste segregation, food donation and redistribution, and the role of research and innovation; a commitment to deliver sustained communications and awareness on food waste prevention and segregation; and details on how we will establish a monitoring and evaluation framework to check progress of key activities and update the roadmap accordingly.

A focus area of food waste prevention includes looking at the role of the public sector in tackling food waste by improving procurement practices. In this respect, the green public procurement strategy and action plan, buying greener, which was published recently, includes a target of 100% of new contract arrangements related to canteen or food services to include measures that are targeted at addressing food waste, with a specific focus on food waste prevention and food waste segregation. Buying greener also has a key focus on organic food procurement to support Ireland’s climate action plan target of 10% of utilisable land area to be farmed organically by 2030. The strategy sets out a target of a minimum of 10% by value of food sought by public sector bodies under new contract arrangements, including via contractors such as canteen service providers, is to be certified organic in a number of food categories, as set out under the target.

While food loss and food waste are a significant challenge, the Bioeconomy Action Plan 2023-2025 recognises that this challenge can be turned into an opportunity given the potential to harness value from the circulation of food byproducts through upcycling into new high-value ingredients and bio-based products. Given that one third of food is being lost or wasted, circulation and upcycling innovations provide opportunities not only to avoid sending food and byproducts to landfill, but also to generate economic opportunities for farmers, fishers, and food businesses alike, based on unavoidable waste. In achieving this, it will be necessary for the bioeconomy to be considered in addressing issues around byproducts and end-of-waste, cascading use, valorisation, resource efficiency and sufficiency, and consumption patterns. A national review of the regulatory systems which categorise materials, including byproducts and end-of-waste materials, will be conducted with the aim of enabling eco-design and the better use and reuse of bio-based materials in our economy.

In support of this and in the context of the development of the new circular economy strategy an analysis, which will map materials across their life cycle, quantifying resources, materials, and waste over the stages of extraction and importation, production, use, recovery and end of life, is currently being conducted.

This analysis will form the basis of Ireland’s first circularity gap report, which is required given that in 2019 Ireland’s circular material use rate was the second worst in the EU, at 1.6% compared to an EU average of 11.9%.

The purpose of this project is to enable us to better understand the levers for change in moving to a circular economy and the benefits that these levers could bring based on a solid analysis. Furthermore, it will reveal the extent to which Ireland currently achieves the recycling of resources back into the economy in order to provide a clear starting point to identify where different sectors and supply chains should focus their strategies going forward so that we can deliver the biggest results in terms of reducing environmental impacts and increasing secondary material use, ultimately narrowing our circularity gap.

It should be recognised that a key component of the bioeconomy action plan is the cascading principle. This logical principle ensures a maximum output from a minimal input. Considering the various sectors of the bioeconomy holistically rather than in isolation provides an appropriate basis for co-delivering ecosystem services and prioritising the uses of biomass and the waste hierarchy. Focusing on the cascading principle and the circular use of biomass is essential, that is, taking less while making more.

Through the use of sustainably produced feedstocks, including grass silage, animal slurry and food waste resources, there is potential to increase our circular bioeconomy, helping to build resilience in our local biological resources, environment, economy and society. This will be supported by the national biomethane strategy, currently being developed by the Departments of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and Environment, Climate and Communications.

The waste action plan for a circular economy seeks to realise the anaerobic digestion and composting potential of the food waste resource, recognising that anaerobic digestion and composting provide opportunities for regional development with sales of locally generated energy and compost. To help ensure unavoidable food waste can become a resource down the food waste hierarchy, the European Union (Household Food Waste and Bio-waste) (Amendment) Regulations 2023 were introduced on 31 December 2023 to require waste collectors to provide all household customers with a biowaste bin. This is being supported by a comprehensive education and awareness campaign to advise households of their entitlement to this service while also offering advice on how to properly segregate their food and other organic waste.

However, while food waste may be considered the optimal feedstock for anaerobic digestion, it is recognised that there is insufficient resource available to meet the required scale. The national food waste prevention roadmap is a key consideration in the use of food waste, in particular considering the food waste hierarchy. To complement this hierarchy, the national policy statement on the bioeconomy outlines the cascading principle, whereby higher value applications are preferentially derived from biological resources prior to their use in energy and fuel generation, which will allow us to derive the maximum value from our bio-resources.

The new circular economy strategy will be unambiguous that food waste prevention is the focus of actions, emphasising that prevention actions need to be prioritised in order to achieve the 2030 target to reduce food waste. It will emphasise that the circular economy regarding the food system means reducing the amount of waste generated in the food system, the reuse of food, the utilisation of byproducts and food waste, nutrient recycling and changes in consumer food practices and diet. Where food surplus does occur, the emphasis will be on the reuse of surplus food for human consumption for people affected by food poverty through redistribution networks. In line with the bioeconomy action plan and the national biomethane strategy, it will be acknowledged that unavoidable food waste can be recycled into animal feed and composting and as a resource to be recovered, through technologies like anaerobic digestion, into high-value energy.

The circularity gap report, which will be published later this year, will provide us with the required evidence base and technical analysis on which the second circular economy strategy will be prepared and submitted to Government by the end of the year. This report will include the bioeconomy, and circular economy actions contained in the bioeconomy action plan, specifically actions 3.2.3 and 7.6, to undertake a material flow analysis to support the transition to a sustainable and circular bioeconomy and examine the proposal of analysing and identifying any skills gap for the circular economy and bioeconomy.

Our transition to a more circular economy and our ambition to halve food waste by 2030 will only be achieved through the continued collaboration of Government, the local authority sector, EPA, general public and private industry on ensuring the actions required or to be specified in the new circular economy strategy are successfully delivered. Go raibh maith agat, a Chathaoirligh.