Action taken by the EU countries, regions and cities as well as farmers, industry, food banks, consumer- and other NGOs is essential to prevent food waste all along the value chain and tackle varying situations across countries and regions.

Through its dedicated sub-group on 'Action and Implementation', the EU Platform on Food Losses and Food Waste aims to help the different sector organisations (public/private) and actors in the food supply chain in identifying and implementing effective food waste prevention initiatives and facilitate the uptake of best practices.

Mandate: sub-group 'Action and Implementation'

In particular, the sub-group:

• collaborated with the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission to collect food waste prevention actions from Platform members, in order to assess their effectiveness and efficiency. The sub-group developed a template for reporting on food waste prevention initiatives in order to collect information in a consistent manner and facilitate both information exchange and impact analysis. Based on relevant work conducted by JRC, a common evaluation framework for food waste prevention actions was developed.

  The results of this pilot exercise are described in the Assessment of food waste prevention actions report(2019), below. The report highlights the data gaps, as well as the need to set clear objectives when designing an action, and provides a common evaluation framework allowing actors to quantify the economic, environmental and social impacts of food waste prevention. JRC has also developed a calculator for the environmental and economic impacts of food waste prevention actions.

  The collaboration between the Action and Implementation subgroup and JRC will continue in 2021, in order to refine the common evaluation framework.

  • JRC - Assessment of food waste prevention actions. Development of an evaluation framework to assess the performance of food waste prevention actions
  • Calculator for impacts of food waste prevention actions
  • No time to waste: assessing the performance of food waste prevention actions, JRC, Resources, Conservation and Recycling, October 2020

• proposed key recommendations for food waste prevention at each stage of the food supply chain: primary production; processing and manufacturing; retail and other distribution of food; hospitality and other food services; and households, for adoption by the EU Platform on Food Losses and Food Waste. The key recommendations for action, available in 23 EU languages, as well as further relevant information, can be found on the EU Platform on Food Losses and Food Waste webpage.

Meetings of the sub-group on action and implementation