The aim is to halve per-capita food waste in Germany at retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses, by 2030.

Compulsory Measures for Implementing the Strategy

The measures to be taken to attain this goal include the refinement of the National Strategy for Food Waste Reduction and the continued incorporation of the entire food supply chain. The aim is to identify the most promising potentials for reduction of waste and to develop and implement specific measures within the sectors. Different measures are used to significantly cut food waste.

• The majority of food waste happens at consumer level. Legislative measures along the food supply chain will not suffice to considerably reduce food waste.
• It is being considered whether legislative changes are required in order to make the strategy more binding, as was agreed in the coalition agreement.
• The BMEL is examining tax breaks and benefits under liability law in order to further facilitate food donations. The main goal, however, is to prevent surpluses from being generated in the first place and to structure the food supply chain in all sectors in such a way that food waste is avoided at all stages — to achieve that, all stakeholders must change how they operate. The measures and progress of the strategy will be published successively on www.zugutfuerdietonne.de.

Since food waste occurs in all sectors along the food supply chain, this chain should be structured so that it avoids food waste at all stages – to achieve that, all stakeholders must change how they operate. The measures and progress of the strategy will be published successively on www.zugutfuerdietonne.de.

Food waste in Germany

In Germany, around 11 million tonnes of food waste are generated every year (as of 2020). If food waste in private households were reduced by 50%, greenhouse gas emissions in Germany could be cut by six million tonnes of CO₂ equivalents, according to an expert opinion by the BMEL’s scientific advisory boards on food, agricultural and forest policies. Anyone reducing food waste hence makes an active contribution to resource conservation and climate stewardship.

Approach and participatory implementation of the National Strategy

The Strategy reflects the fact that reducing food waste is a task for society as a whole. Civil society, industry, administration and scientists are therefore called upon to become involved in the implementation:

• This is set to be achieved through participation in sectoral dialogue forums: this cooperation is developing specific measures for reducing food waste and setting sector-specific targets. Dialogue forums have been set up for primary production, processing, wholesale and retail, away-from-home catering and private households.
• Representatives of the structures established by the National Strategy take part in the overarching National Dialogue Forum. They meet once a year in order to exchange thoughts and ideas on the measures and progress achieved in the dialogue forums and – also beyond the sectoral boundaries – to provide impetus for further reduction possibilities for the entire food supply chain.
• In addition to the dialogue forums, the Federal Government/ Länder body is another important element in the implementation process. It undertakes the tasks of an inter-ministerial, cross-Land governance instrument, flanks the implementation of the Strategy and identifies further fields of action.
• The “AG Indikator SDG 12.3” working group coordinates the reporting on food waste in Germany under the German Sustainable Development Strategy, the United Nations 2030 Agenda and the European Union’s Waste Framework Directive. The members of the working group comprise representatives from the BMEL, the Thünen Institute, the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection, the Federal Environment Agency and the Federal Statistical Office.

©

Implementation steps

The dialogue forums on primary production and processing

According to current figures from EU reports for 2020, which the Federal Statistical Office gathered in 2022 under commission to the Federal Ministry for the Environment (BMUV), the processing sector causes 15 % of the annual 11 million tonnes of food waste in Germany. Primary production causes 2 %. This only includes waste collected through commercial waste disposal. In accordance with EU stipulations, the figures do not include other material flows, such as use as animal feed, in the farms’ biogas plants, or losses that occur before and during harvests and slaughter.

In early January 2021, the dialogue forums on reducing food waste in primary production and in food processing were launched: as coordinator, the German Agricultural Society (DLG) carries out the projects. Both dialogue forums are scientifically flanked by the Johann Heinrich von Thünen Institute with the aim of improving the data situation for these sectors.

An intensive exchange of information and experiences will be organised via ‘Round tables’ for the individual product groups. The dialogue forums will, in cooperation with the companies, identify specific measures for reducing food waste in primary production, processing and at the interfaces with upstream and downstream sectors; these measures will then be tested and evaluated in demonstration farms. This will be used as a basis to conclude target agreements for reducing food waste in primary production and processing.

The dialogue forum for wholesalers and retailers

The dialogue forum for wholesalers and retailers was launched in September 2019. The BMEL has been supporting the dialogue forum since November 2019. 23 wholesale and retail enterprises have signed a statement on participating in the dialogue forum for wholesale and retail and have therefore committed to taking specific steps to reduce food waste. The forum is still open for other enterprises to join.

The companies come together for working meetings to identify and discuss particularly effective measures to cut food waste. Two public online meetings together with other stakeholders took place in June 2020 and March 2021. Additionally, the dialogue forums on primary production, processing and trade held an overarching digital workshop in autumn 2021. The core focus was on artificial intelligence applications and what they can contribute to food waste reduction at the interfaces between the different sectors.

To portray the reduction of food waste in wholesale and retail over a longer period of time, the members have taken measures to improve the data situation and to add to existing sources of data. An interim report outlines the progress made in implementation by early 2021 and two monitoring reports present the data situation.

The aim of the project is to draft a target agreement for the trade sector. Support is also to be provided for data collection on food waste in the sector.

The dialogue forum on avoiding food waste in away-from-home catering

The away-from-home market has great potential for saving 30 to 50 % of food waste. This is shown by the results of the more than 720 waste measurements and analyses that United against Waste e.V. has carried out since 2014 in cooperation with different businesses. Twelve model farms were able to cut food waste by an average of 25 % in the scope of the dialogue forum on away-from-home catering of the National Strategy for Food Waste Reduction. 

After three years of work, the dialogue forum adopted a target agreement coordinated by WWF Germany. In the agreement, the undersigned associations declare their willingness to reduce food waste by 30 % by 2025 and by 50 % by 2030. The agreements covers the whole of the sector, including staff canteens, hotels, hospitals, retirement homes and schools. The aim in the future will be to have as many companies in the away-from-home catering sector take part in the implementation of the target agreement as possible. The BMEL is funding the establishment of a competence centre for the sector to achieve this goal. The centre will collect, process and analyse waste data from the sector and evaluate the effectiveness of the target agreement.

The dialogue forum on private households

59 % of food waste that occurs in Germany are produced by consumers in private households. The dialogue forum for private households will therefore identify promising approaches and measures to reduce food waste, test these in cooperation with actors already active in this field, and review their effectiveness using a standard method developed in the dialogue forum. The stakeholders will be brought together for discussions in regular network meetings.

The dialogue forum for private households, supported by the BMEL since October 2020, is coordinated by the Ecologic Institute and conducted in cooperation with the Technical University of Berlin and with Slow Food Deutschland.

General agreement

On 4 March 2020, the BMEL and the presidents and chairs of seven umbrella associations of the agri-food sector, trade, artisanal food production and the restaurant and catering sector signed a general agreement. This general agreement forms the basis for the cooperation in implementing the National Strategy for Food Waste Reduction.

Recording of food waste in Germany

The measuring of food waste plays an important role. Only if we know where and why food is thrown away, can we take targeted measures for reducing the amount of food that is wasted. Within the scope of EU reporting, the food waste levels in 2020 along the entire food supply chain for Germany were calculated and reported to the EU Commission in June 2022. The figures are supplemented by measurements in the dialogue forums. They play a significant role, for instance in assessing the impact of measures, identifying the type of waste in a more precise manner, and considering in depth other material flows not devoted to food.

Promoting the digital eco platform of Tafel Deutschland e.V. (German Association of Food Banks)

The BMEL has been supporting the “eco-Plattform” project of Tafel Deutschland e.V. since 2019. The “eco-Plattform”, in the “Tafel macht Zukunft – gemeinsam digital” project, is intended to improve the interface between food-donating companies and the food banks, for example through digitalised delivery notes, and in this way to simplify the donation of unsold food that is still edible.

Too good for the bin! as a baseline

©

The BMEL launched Too good for the bin! in March 2012. This has focused the public’s attention on the issue of food waste and made consumers have a greater appreciation of food. Too good for the bin! is continually scaled up and extended to include the entire food supply chain.

Released 07. Jul 2022 as article