50 Amendments of Karl-Heinz FLORENZ related to 2016/2223(INI)
Amendment 1 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 9 a (new)
Citation 9 a (new)
- having regard to the Special Report by the European Court of Auditors entitled ‘Combating Food Waste: an opportunity for the EU to improve the resource-efficiency of the food supply chain’ of 10 November 2016,
Amendment 9 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
Aa. whereas food is a precious commodity; whereas, as the „food system" utilises a lot of resources such as land, soil, water, phosphorous and energy, the efficient and sustainable managing of these resources is of utmost importance; whereas food waste causes massive economic and environmental costs (1.7 trillion USD per year on global scale according to FAO estimates1a); whereas preventing and reducing food waste provides economic benefits for households and society while at the same time decreasing environmental damage; _________________ 1aFAO „Food waste Foodprint. Impacts on natural resources"; FAO Rome, 2013.
Amendment 13 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas food wastage has high social and economic, economic and environmental costs; whereas food that is lost or wasted contributes to climate change with a global carbon footprint of about 8 % of total anthropogenic global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and represents a waste of scarce resources such as land, energy and water8 through the products' lifecycle; _________________ 8 FAO, 2015. Food wastage footprint & climate change.
Amendment 16 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Ba. whereas according to the World Food Programme (WFP) 795 million people in the world do not have enough food to lead a healthy and active life; whereas poor nutrition causes nearly half (45%) or approximately 3.1 million of deaths in children under the age of five; whereas one in six children in the world are underweight and one in four is stunted; whereas it is therefore not only an economic and environmental but also a moral obligation to reduce food waste1a ; _________________ 1a https://www.wfp.org/hunger/stats.
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12.3 is aimed at halving per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels by 2030 and reducing food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses; whereas the UN estimates that world population will increase from 7.3 billion people today to 9.7 billion in 20501a ; whereas reducing food waste is an essential step in reducing world hunger and a necessity to feed an ever growing world population; _________________ 1a http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/n ews/population/2015-report.html
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)
Recital D a (new)
Amendment 35 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas food is lost or wasted at all steps of the supplyfood chain, including production, processing, transport, storage, retail, marketing and consumption chain; whereas estimates from the FUSIONS project indicate that the sectors contributing the most to food waste within the EU are households and processing, accounting for up to 53 %, and processing, accounting for up to 19 %10; _________________ 10 FUSIONS, Estimates of European food waste levels, March 2016.
Amendment 45 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E a (new)
Recital E a (new)
Ea. whereas a targeted measure, tailored to the operators and the step in the chain, is more appropriate to combating food waste, as the problems encountered are not the same across the board;
Amendment 55 #
F. whereas there is no common consistent definition of ‘food waste’ nor a common methodology for measuring food waste at Union level yet, which makes it difficult to compare different datasets and to measure progress in reducing food waste; whereas in the FUSIONS project, food wasdifficulties associated was defined as ‘any food, and inedible parts of food, removed from the food supply chain to be recovered or disposed (including composted, crops ploughed in/not harvested, anaerobic digestion, bio-energy productiith collecting full, reliable and harmonised data are an additional obstacle in evaluating food waste in the EU; whereas there is no common, co- generation, incineration, disposal to sewer, landfill or discarded to sea)’11; _________________ 11FUSIONS Definitional Framework for Food Waste, 3 July 2014.nsistent definition of the concept of ‘loss’ either, nor a common methodology for measuring it at Union level;
Amendment 72 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G
Recital G
G. whereas the waste management hierarchy established by the Waste Framework Directive12 (prevention, preparing for re-use, recycling, recovery and disposal) cannot be applied in full to food waste; whereas currently there is no specific hierarchy for the management of unconsumed food at EU level; whereas prevention ought to be the priority measure in combating food waste; _________________ 12 Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 November 2008 on waste and repealing certain Directives (OJ L 312, 22.11.2008, p. 3).
Amendment 77 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I
Recital I
I. whereas date marking on food products is poorly understood; whereas ‘best before’ labelling indicates the date after which an item of food may still be eaten but may not be at its best in terms of quality, and ‘use by’ labelling indicates the date after which an item of food is no longer safe to eat; whereas not even half of EU citizens understand the meaning of ‘best before’ and ‘use by’ labelling14; whereas the use of these concepts and the understanding of them vary from one Member State to another, but also, for the same product, vary between different producers, processors and distributors; _________________ 14 Flash Eurobarometer 425, ‘Food waste and date marking’, September 2015.
Amendment 87 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital J
Recital J
J. whereas the donation of unsold food along the entire supplyfood chain leads to considerable reductions in food waste, while helping people in need of food;
Amendment 90 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital J a (new)
Recital J a (new)
Ja. whereas European funds facilitate the donation of food, such as the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD), which enables finance to be provided for, among other necessities, storage and transport infrastructure for food donation bodies; whereas not enough use is made of these means by the Member States;
Amendment 93 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital K a (new)
Recital K a (new)
Ka. whereas the European Commission is currently working on a clarification of European legislation on donations;
Amendment 94 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital L
Recital L
L. whereas countries such as Italyseveral Member States have adopted legislation that facilitates food donation by excluding donor liability for food that is donated in good faith and known to be fit for consumption at the time of donation;
Amendment 102 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital N a (new)
Recital N a (new)
Na. whereas active and intelligent food contact materials can improve the quality of packaged food and extend its shelf-life or better monitor the condition of packaged food and provide information on the freshness of the food;
Amendment 103 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital N a (new)
Recital N a (new)
Na. whereas combating food waste also brings economic benefits, as each euro spent on preventing food waste makes it possible to avoid 265 kg of food waste, with a value of EUR 535, and enables local authorities to save EUR 9 on the cost of waste and EUR 50 on environmental costs linked to greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution1 a; _________________ 1a Commission staff working document, executive summary of the impact assessment, impact assessment on measures addressing food waste to complete SWD (2014) 207 regarding the review of EU waste management targets (SWD(2014) 289 final, 23.9.2014).
Amendment 109 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Stresses the urgent need to reduce the amount of food waste in the Union at every step of the supplyfood chain, including production, processing, transport, storage, retail, marketing and consumption chain;
Amendment 111 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Stresses the urgent need to reduce the amount of food waste in the Union at every step of the supply and consumptionand to improve consequently resource efficiency in the Union along the entire food supply chain;
Amendment 113 #
1. Stresses the urgent need to reduce the amount of food waste in the Union at every step of the supply and consumption chain; in this regard, underlines the importance of political leadership and commitment from both the Commission and Member States; reminds that the European Parliament repeatedly, in its resolutions from 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2016, asked the Commission to take action against food waste;
Amendment 126 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Calls for a coordinated policy response at EU and Member State level that takes into account policies regarding waste, food safety and information, but also aspects of economic, research and innovation, environment, agriculture, education, and social policy; emphasises that the EU efforts to reduce food waste should be strengthened and better aligned;
Amendment 129 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2 a. Urges the European Commission and Member States to use the following definition of "food waste": "food waste means food intended for human consumption, either in edible or inedible status, removed from the production or supply chain to be discarded including at primary production, processing, manufacturing, transportation, storage, retail and consumer levels, with the exception of primary production losses";
Amendment 131 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Calls on the Commission to apply a systemic approach to food waste addressing the wide range of relevant areas and all the stages of the food chain and their interrelationships; therefore calls on the Commission to establish an action plan on food waste covering the various policy areas and outlining the strategy for the years ahead;
Amendment 135 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to put the financial support that already exists for combating food waste on a permanent footing; calls on the Member States to make better use of the opportunities offered in this area by the various European Union policies and funding programmes;
Amendment 136 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 b (new)
Paragraph 2 b (new)
2b. Urges the Commission to involve all relevant Commission services dealing with food waste such as DG ENV, DG MARE, DG AGRI, DG SANTE and to ensure continued and strengthened coordination at Commission level;
Amendment 139 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Calls for a binding food waste reduction target of 50 % by 2030 and reiterates its call for a binding food waste reduction target of at least 30 % by 2025on the Member States to take measures which aim to achieve an EU food waste reduction target of 30 % by 2025 and 50 % by 2030 as compared with the 2014 baseline;
Amendment 140 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8 a. Notes that market standards contribute to food waste. Therefore, asks the Commission to promote research on the relation between marketing standards and food waste; calls upon the Commission and the Member States to influence the UNECE public standards with the aim of avoiding the waste of resources by preventing the generation of food waste.
Amendment 146 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Calls on Member States to take measures to reduce food losses along the whole supply chain, including primary production, transportation and storage;
Amendment 147 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Urges the Commission to swiftlyInvites Member States to monitor and assess the implementation of their food waste prevention measures by measuring the levels of food waste on the basis of a common methodology; urges the Commission to adopt asuch common methodology to measure foodby 31 December 2017, including minimum quality requirements, for the uniform measurement of the levels of food waste; that methodology shall take into account the waste prevention measures implemented through donations or other ways of preventing food from becoming waste;
Amendment 164 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Calls on the Commission to work on a common definition of the concept of ‘loss’ at each step in the food chain, and a common measurement methodology in collaboration with the Member States and all the parties involved;
Amendment 168 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Calls for the establishment in EU legislation of a hierarchy for the management of unsold fooda specific food waste hierarchy to be applied in Directive 2008/98/EC as follows: a) source prevention; b) edible food rescue, prioritising human use over animal feed and the reprocessing into non-food products; c) organic recycling; d) energy recovery; e) disposal;
Amendment 187 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
Amendment 192 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Welcomes the recent creation of the EU Platform on Food Losses and Food Waste, which enables information to be exchanged between the operators involved; calls on the Commission to provide Parliament with a precise list of the measures currently being taken and the objectives and sub-objectives pursued, as well as the state of progress of the work being done on a common methodology and on donations;
Amendment 197 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Calls on the European Commission, in the framework of the research projects financed by the EU budget, to promote innovative technologies able to extend the shelf-life of food products;
Amendment 198 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Encourages the Commission and the Member States to engage, in cooperation with stakeholders, in improving consumers’the understanding of ‘use by’ dates and ‘best before’ dates; asks the Commission to assess whether on the part of producers, processors, distributors and consumers by cuarrent EU legislation and current practice in use with ‘use by’ and ‘best before’ dates in different Member States are fit for purposeying out awareness- raising and education campaigns, with a particular focus on consumers; stresses the efforts already made by many operators in the chain on this issue, such as the running of information campaigns in shops or on the internet;
Amendment 211 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8a. Calls on the Commission, as part of the evaluation that it is currently carrying out, to assess, in particular: whether current EU legislation and the use currently made in various Member States of the ‘best before’ date and the ‘use by’ date are fit for purpose; whether a revision of the ‘use by’ and ‘best before’ dates terminology, according to the Member States, should be considered to make it easier for consumers to understand them; whether it might be beneficial to remove certain dates for products where no risk to health or the environment exists; whether it might be advisable to introduce European guidelines on this issue;
Amendment 218 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to promote consumer understanding by all operators in the food chain of food waste, food safety, and good practices in relation to their management and consumption of food by establishing information and communication campaigns;
Amendment 243 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to promote and exchange successful practices of food waste reduction and resource conservation methods already used by stakeholders;
Amendment 279 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Calls on the Commission to propose a change in the VAT Directive that would explicitly authorise tax exemptions on food donations; calls on the Member States to follow the Commission’s recommendations and to set a VAT rate that is low or close to zero if the donation is made close to the recommended ‘use by’ date or if the food is unsaleable;
Amendment 281 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13a. Calls on the Commission, when conducting an impact assessment on new relevant legislative proposals, to evaluate their potential impact on food waste;
Amendment 284 #
13a. Calls on the Commission to identify the European legislation that might hamper the effective combating of food waste and analyse how it might be adapted to meet the food waste prevention objective;
Amendment 303 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)
Paragraph 14 a (new)
Amendment 315 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 a (new)
Paragraph 15 a (new)
15a. Stresses the importance of packaging that is appropriate for the product and for consumers’ needs, taking into account the functions fulfilled by the packaging throughout the distribution chain, in order to avoid food waste, and taking into account an approach based on the packaging life-cycle;
Amendment 316 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 a (new)
Paragraph 15 a (new)
15a. Calls on Member States to take action in order to encourage food business operators to use active and intelligent food contact materials, which actively contribute to extending the shelf- life of products and provide clear information about freshness of the food;
Amendment 318 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 a (new)
Paragraph 15 a (new)
15a. Calls on the Member States to introduce in their national waste prevention plans measures to reduce food waste with the aim of achieving an EU- wide food waste reduction target of 30% by 2025 and of 50% by 2030; to this end, invites Member States to set out national specific food waste prevention programs, describing at least the implementation of the measures and the economic instruments adopted to achieve the reduction of food waste;
Amendment 321 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 a (new)
Paragraph 15 a (new)
15a. Calls on the European Commission, within the actions of the EU Platform on Food Losses and Food waste, to assess the best practices already implemented in the different Member States, in order to better define effective instruments to reduce food waste;
Amendment 326 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 b (new)
Paragraph 15 b (new)
15b. Stresses the importance, with a view to reducing waste, of ensuring that food is distributed and kept using methods which are appropriate to each product’s characteristics;
Amendment 327 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 c (new)
Paragraph 15 c (new)
15c. Calls on the Commission, the Member States and stakeholders to provide consumers with better information on methods for keeping and/or reusing products;
Amendment 332 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 d (new)
Paragraph 15 d (new)
15d. Stresses that recovering co- and by-products may be considered one way to combat food waste;
Amendment 334 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 e (new)
Paragraph 15 e (new)