Fighting against food waste is one of the key action strands laid down in the EU’s Farm to Fork Strategy, which aims to make food systems fair, healthy and environmentally friendly.

In the EU, around 88 million tonnes of food waste are generated annually along the food supply chain with associated costs estimated at 143 billion euros. Reducing food waste has enormous potential for reducing the resources we use to produce the food we eat as well as the environmental and climate impact of food systems. It also has an important social dimension, helping to address challenges to food security.  

In order to support key players in taking action to address food waste, the European Commission in collaboration with HaDEA have launched a new call for proposals under the Single Market Programme (SMP) – Food strand: ‘Grants for stakeholders to improve measurement of food waste and help implement food waste prevention in their operations and organisations’.

The aim of the call is to support stakeholders in the hospitality and food services’ sector to improve measurement of food waste and help implement food waste prevention in their operations and organisations. The sector includes restaurants, hotels and catering services (healthcare, education, canteens, transportation etc.), in both the public and private sphere.

Through this call, the European Commission is looking for solutions that are ready to be implemented by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), in close-to-market conditions and at industrial or commercial scale. A wide range of activities are eligible to be supported by the grants offered under this call for proposals, such as integration of food waste prevention in business operations, food waste monitoring programmes, communication materials, development of new business models, training programmes etc. Project proposals should include an initial food waste diagnosis to understand the extent of the issue and should integrate food waste measurement as part of the assessment of the effectiveness of the initiatives proposed.

Deadline: 20 September 2022 | 17:00 CET (Brussels)

Budget: €2.250.000

More information on the call