A. Relevance and sustainability context
A.1 Policy relevance
Wasting food depletes the environment of limited natural resources. The EU is committed to meeting the Sustainable Development Goal Target 12.3 to halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer level by 2030 and reduce food losses along the food production and supply chains. Additionally this supports the fight against climate change (food waste has a huge environmental impact, accounting for about 16% of the total Greenhouse Gas emissions from the EU food system), saves nutritious food for redistribution to those in need, helping to eradicate hunger and malnutrition and save money for farmers, food businesses and households. In February 2025 binding targets for food waste reduction on a national level have been introduced. By 31 December 2030 member states have to reduce food waste by 10% in food processing and manufacturing and 30% per capita in retail, restaurants, food services and households. These targets are compared to the average annual waste from 2021-2023 and are part of the revised Waste Framework Directive.
Reporting ministries in Germany are the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Regional Identity as financing sector-specific monitoring studies and the Federal Environment Agency as the authoritative oversight body for finalized data transmitting.
EU:
- Waste Framework Directive
- Farm to Fork Strategy
National:
- National Strategy for Food Waste Reduction
- Circular Economy Act (KrWG)
- Zu gut für die Tonne!: Long-running federal consumer awareness campaign
The aim of the indicator is to monitor and assess the implementation of the food waste prevention measures in Member States based on a common methodology by measuring the levels of food waste at the different stages of the food supply chain.
A.2 Sustainability and / or comparative evaluation options
In an overall comparison to the production of food and land use for this, the indicator could be put into a system perspective. This would also illustrate the sustainability threshold level in regards to land use change impacts. In addition, share of food waste among supply chain parts are possible and implications of effectiveness of supply chain sectors to indicate food sovereignty in the EU. Comparative evaluation options against the SDG framework, which indicates the indicator as a part of an overall sustainability assessment is further possible
As the indicator is one part of the Eurostat data set, a comparison between EU member states is possible.
B. Data availability
B.1 Stage of development
Method is well established and documented by Eurostat.
B.2 Data sources
- Primary data in Eurostat: https://doi.org/10.2908/ENV_WASFW
- Results data in: https://knowledge4policy.ec.europa.eu/bioeconomy/monitoring_en
- Data for dry mass can also be found here: https://jeodpp.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ftp/jrc-opendata/FWE/Food%20waste%20estimates%20model%20results%20(model%20version%203.0)/
- Method in: https://github.com/xapple/waste_flow/
B.3 Coverage over time and replicability
The indicator is reported in a time span from 2003-2023 (Results in EU bioeconomy monitor); 2020-2023 (Eurostat). Annually updated due to mandatory reporting obligations.
B.4 Coverage across scales and sectors; compatibility
The indicator is reported on a national scale and on and international level at the EU scale. The following sectorial breakdowns could be made:
- Total (aggregate changing according to the context)
- Primary production of food - agriculture, fishing and aquaculture
- Manufacture of food products and beverages
- Retail and other distribution of food Label
- Restaurants and food services
- Total activities by households
C. Considerations for operationalization
C.1 Feasibility: Fit for monitoring
The indicator is very robust and methodologically sound and reliable, and fit for bioeconomy monitoring, as it is a central indicator on EU level for the topic waste and circularity (https://knowledge4policy.ec.europa.eu/bioeconomy/monitoring_en).
C.2 Institutions
The EU Commission and Eurostat are responsible for calculating based on mandatory reporting obligations.
C.3 Future prospects
As the indicator is in included several frameworks, the monitoring for the indicator will be continued.
C.4 Costs, considerations and reproducibility
As the data is already reported and calculated by Eurostat and openly available, there will be no cost connected to data sharing.
C.5 Potential for automation
There is a strong possibility for automation based on linkage of Eurostat or here: https://github.com/xapple/waste_flow/
C.6 Presentation options and breakdown / sub-indicator needs
The indicator could be presented as a trend of the food waste share (%, fresh or dry) of the individual supply chain parts. Further the indicator can be shown in terms of absolute t fresh mass development, which is likely more relevant in terms of highlights of the EU and German goals.
C.7 Potential for scenario integration
Possibility to use trends of food waste for estimations of future potentials of biogenic residues and wastes as well as for implications of effectiveness of supply chain sectors to indicate potential necessary resources for food sovereignty in the EU in relation to climate change impacts.
C.8 Interlinkages and alignment with other monitoring activities
The indicator is reported also in the EU bioeconomy monitoring & SDG Framework and Monitoring. Reporting aligns with mandatory obligations for the Development Report of the UN and the German Sustainable Strategy.