34 Amendments of Giovanni LA VIA 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 199 #
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’ understanding of ‘use by’ dates and ‘best before’ dates; asks the Commission to assess whether current EU legislation and current practice in use with ‘use by’ and ‘best before’ dates in different Member States are fit for purpose;
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 232 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9a. In view of the fact that many food products, in the days following their date of expiry, still retain their organoleptic and nutritional characteristics, although to a reduced extent, and continue to be consumable, provided food safety principles are complied with, calls on the Commission to identify logistical and organisational models that could make it possible to recover, in total safety, all the types of products that are unsold to date;
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 248 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10a. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to consider variable pricing according to expiry dates as a tool for reducing the quantity of edible food products which become waste; considers that waste in the distribution stage can be reduced considerably by adopting discounts in proportion to the time remaining before the expiry of the product; believes that such a practice, which is currently carried out on a voluntary basis, should be laid down in legislation;
Amendment 275 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 a (new)
Paragraph 12 a (new)
12a. Calls on the Commission to promote the creation in Member States of agreements stipulating that the retail food sector shall distribute unsold products to charity associations;
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 304 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14a (new)
Paragraph 14a (new)
14a. Calls on the European institutions and the Member States to promote exemplary behaviour by public authorities in relation to combating food waste in public catering;
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 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 334 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 e (new)
Paragraph 15 e (new)