Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael)
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89. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his Department’s efforts to tackle food waste; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8386/24]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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At a strategic level, my Department works very closely with the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications (DECC) on exploring ways to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goal 12.3. That Goal commits by 2030 to halve, per capita, global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses. That commitment is also reflected in Food Vision 2030 the 10 year strategy for the Agri-food sector.

I, together with my colleague Ossian Smyth, Minister of State with responsibility for the Circular Economy at the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, officially launched the Government’s Food Waste Prevention Roadmap on 30 November 2022 .

The Roadmapsets out a number of priority actions to bring the focus on food waste prevention in a coherent manner across key sectors in the food supply chain. One of the actions in the Roadmap was are-launch of the EPA Food Charter which again with my colleague Minister Ossian Smyth I launched in June last year. Food businesses that sign up to the Food Waste Charter make a number of commitments related to measuring, reporting and reducing food waste. While the sign up to the Charter is voluntary, these commitments by companies will be essential drivers across the agricultural and food supply chain to allow Ireland to measure our progress against the 50% reduction target.

In relation to funding, my Department has, over the last few years, provided €10 million for the purchase of specialised equipment by the National Prepared Consumer Food Centre in Ashtown, that allows food companies to undertake piloting of their innovative processes, including reducing food waste in their production processes and packaging.

In May last year, I allocated almost €180,000 funding under the Rural Innovation and Development Fund, to the FoodCloud Growers’ Project. This Project is aimed at reducing food waste at farm level by connecting growers who have surplus produce with community groups located around the country. The project aimed to redistribute 60 tonnes of produce in 2023, avoiding emissions of over 190,000kgs of carbon equivalent.

In January this year I issued another call for proposals for food waste reduction initiatives to be funded under the Rural Innovation and Development Fund for which the closing date is 22 March 2024. My Department has also funded some research projects for examining food loss and food waste.

However funding alone will not help us achieve the ambitious food waste reduction targets. The achievement of the target will involve a range of issues including behavioural change, awareness initiatives, data gathering on levels of food waste and monitoring and evaluation. My Department is working with the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications and the Environmental Protection Agency on raising awareness and encouraging food businesses to commit to the Charter.