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Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Circular Economy in the Food Sector: Discussion (21 May 2024)

Alan Farrell: ...also received apologies from Senator McGahon. This morning's meeting will be split into two sessions. In the first, we will hear from representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, and the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications while the second, we will have representatives from FoodCloud, Food Drink Ireland and the Circular Bioeconomy Research Group,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Circular Economy in the Food Sector: Discussion (21 May 2024)

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...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Circular Economy in the Food Sector: Discussion (21 May 2024)

...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...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Circular Economy in the Food Sector: Discussion (21 May 2024)

Alan Farrell: I thank Mr. Collins. I throw this open to the EPA, if its representatives have any remarks to make on it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Circular Economy in the Food Sector: Discussion (21 May 2024)

Mr. David Flynn: We made a submission to the Department on the draft strategy. We were looking at food stocks, the use of material coming out of those, the importance of delivery of the large number of facilities that will need to go through EPA licensing and permitting processes, and the capacity of the State to deliver on that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Circular Economy in the Food Sector: Discussion (21 May 2024)

Richard Bruton: ...food waste and now we are still talking about measuring it and getting a baseline. That is not good enough. We passed legislation that said within six months we would have a strategy from the Department. We are still waiting for a strategy. That Bill was initiated in 2021 and passed in 2022; here we are in 2024 and we still do not have a strategy. I presume the Department did not...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Circular Economy in the Food Sector: Discussion (21 May 2024)

...later this year. That is trying to achieve a harmonised approach in all member states as regards what baseline year would be looked at in meeting the proposed European Commission targets. The Department is participating in that process. As has been pointed out, the EPA produces the data on food waste, and 2020 was the first referenced year that was published in 2022. We are following an...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Circular Economy in the Food Sector: Discussion (21 May 2024)

Mr. David Flynn: Understanding that behaviour is key both in the commercial sector and in the household. I will ask my colleague, Ms McCoole, to say a word about the work the EPA is doing around behavioural insights because it will answer the Deputy's question.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Circular Economy in the Food Sector: Discussion (21 May 2024)

Alan Farrell: ...Whitmore, I want to follow up on the point I was making about incentivising the waste collection companies to help their customers to help the planet. Is there sufficient authority within the EPA and the local authorities to properly regulate those collection companies to inform their customers that they are literally making more out of those customers because customers are doing certain...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Circular Economy in the Food Sector: Discussion (21 May 2024)

Mr. David Flynn: As Mr. Quirke outlined, the EPA has less of a role in waste collection. I will give some statistics that might be helpful to the committee. In terms of total packaging, there is a legal target of 65% by 2025. At the moment, we are at 58%, so it looks as though that target is within reach, but how it will work out remains to be seen. In terms of plastic packaging,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Circular Economy in the Food Sector: Discussion (21 May 2024)

Jennifer Whitmore: ...for coming before the committee. I want to concentrate on an incredibly important issue when it comes to food wastage in Ireland and that is the best before date. Interestingly, neither the EPA or the Department mentioned it in their submissions. Every year, 1 million tonnes of food is thrown away and 55% of Irish people throw away food based on the best before date, which is an...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Circular Economy in the Food Sector: Discussion (21 May 2024)

Ms Fiona McCoole: The EPA supported the Department in 2022, and the Department of Health, regarding an interdepartmental working group on food labelling, which considered developing Ireland's position on the EU Commission's package of revisions of food information to consumers regulation, under the Commission's farm to fork strategy and Beating Cancer Plan. We had five elements, one of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Circular Economy in the Food Sector: Discussion (21 May 2024)

Christopher O'Sullivan: This is a specific question for the EPA. Ms McCoole mentioned anaerobic digestion earlier. What role does the EPA feel that anaerobic digestion has in the circular economy in relation to the food sector?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Circular Economy in the Food Sector: Discussion (21 May 2024)

Christopher O'Sullivan: The first part of Mr. Flynn's answer, in particular, plays out to the feeling out there among the sector that the EPA sees very little role for anaerobic digestion in dealing with waste. If I may expand on that a bit further, the experience for those who are either already involved in anaerobic digestion or trying to get involved in it is that the EPA just does not want anaerobic digestion...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Circular Economy in the Food Sector: Discussion (21 May 2024)

Mr. David Flynn: I reject that completely. As regards the EPA, we have licensed anaerobic digesters and we have provided input into the Department's own development of the strategy. Anaerobic digestion absolutely has a role to play, as I have just said, in the development of a holistic system for dealing with food waste, clean energy production and biomethane in terms of displacing...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Circular Economy in the Food Sector: Discussion (21 May 2024)

...conditions attached to those licences. There is potential for negative environmental impact from anaerobic digestion. There are both benefits and risks that need to be managed. As regards the EPA licensing process, as I said earlier, if we are going to have 140 new fairly significant plants in the country, we need to make sure there is capacity within the planning and environmental...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Circular Economy in the Food Sector: Discussion (21 May 2024)

Christopher O'Sullivan: ...and food processing factories could feed into it. I am not talking about ADs on a massive scale but smaller scale ADs. The people in the sector feel they are being stymied at every corner by the EPA. I just want to give that feedback.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Circular Economy in the Food Sector: Discussion (21 May 2024)

...is send the number of AD plant applications that we have received and that we have issued, with the conditions attached. We will also send a copy of our submission on anaerobic digestion to the Department just to assure the committee that the EPA has a role to play.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Circular Economy in the Food Sector: Discussion (21 May 2024)

Mr. Brian Quirke: Education and awareness are hugely important and are key focuses of the National Food Waste Prevention Roadmap 2023-2025, which deals with communications about food waste. The EPA is a very important stakeholder in that process. There is Stop Food Waste and consumer-facing awareness campaigns. Our Department has been funding food waste awareness campaigns in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Circular Economy in the Food Sector: Discussion (21 May 2024)

...around mandatory reporting, and that is referring to the food waste charter. The revised charter was launched just last year so it is early days in terms of seeing how effective it is. The EPA might wish to comment on the food waste charter.