Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 54:

In page 23, line 4, after “food” where it firstly occurs to insert “loss and”.

These amendments are all connected. I touched on this earlier. Some of them relate to the definition of food waste as compared with food loss. Many people are familiar with food waste and that one third of food purchased goes into the bin without being consumed. That is just the food that makes it to the shop or retail outlet.Food loss relates to food that might not even make it as far as the shop. It may relate to a farmer deciding it is more economical to leave a crop in the field than harvesting it, or to a product that is damaged in transport. It is important that we capture the full definition of food waste which incorporates that idea of food loss.

As I stated earlier, amendment No. 63 relates to the hierarchy of food waste and encouraging food donation and redistribution for human consumption being prioritised over using human food for animal feed or for reprocessing into biofuels or non-food products.

Amendment No. 65 calls for an annual review to evaluate the outcomes against the stated deliverables of the national food loss and waste prevention strategy, based on data collected from all food sectors and the waste industry, and to provide recommendations on the adjustment of the national food loss and waste prevention strategy or other measures, including financial measures, to address any barriers or shortfalls as may be identified by the review.

Amendment No. 68 relates to the definition of food waste. We need to distinguish between food loss and food waste. That would be in line with the international protocol and have the added benefit of allowing us to have greater comparison between countries across the world.

As regards amendment No. 72, I touched on this earlier. It relates to a supermarket refill station report. It asks for the Minister to prepare and publish a report examining how retailers can reduce the amount of plastic packaging in Ireland "by encouraging customers to use reusable containers through s through greater requiring a minimum amount of floor space be dedicated to refill stations". As I stated, this measure is in place in other EU member states. Large supermarkets over 400 sq. m are obliged to have a percentage of that floor space dedicated to refillable or reusable items. We know that dried food goods and detergents are wide open to being used in this way. They can be sold in refillable containers. The requirement in France is that all supermarkets larger than 400 sq. m allocate 20% of floor space to reusable or refillable products.