Second reading of Food Waste Bill postponed
The bill was originally presented to the House of Commons on 9 September by Labour MP for Bristol East Kerry McCarthy and given a second reading that was scheduled for today (29 January).
Drafted by MPs across different political parties, including Kerry McCarthy, Zac Goldsmith of the Conservatives and the Green Party’s MP Caroline Lucas, the aim of the bill is to tackle ‘unsustainable levels of industry food waste’.
Voluntary food waste reduction targets not enough
McCarthy, who has recently been named Shadow Environment Secretary, stated in her original presentation of the bill that current government policies on food waste reduction are focused mainly on household waste with no provisions for waste produced in the food industry.
She added that voluntary targets currently in place in the food industry (which aimed to reduce food and associated packaging waste by five per cent by the end of 2015 on a 2012 baseline) are not enough to meet EU and UN food waste reduction targets. The new bill would require supermarkets and food manufacturers to reduce their food waste by 30 per cent by 2025, which is in line with European targets.
There is also no legislation in place to forbid the disposal of food that is fit for human consumption or even fit for consumption by livestock. According to McCarthy, only two per cent of edible food is redistributed, 20 times less than that distributed in France, and she believes more should be done to stop food being thrown away, especially when there are people that don’t have enough to eat.
Food Waste (Reduction) Bill
The proposed bill would require supermarkets to donate unsold foods that are fit for human consumption for distribution.
The publication of food waste arisings by large supermarkets and manufacturers across their entire supply chain, is thought to be another requirement included in the UK bill.
In addition, McCarthy says that introducing a food waste reduction target of 30 per cent by 2025 would bring the UK into line with the circular economy package outlined by the European Commission (EC) last year.
Other measures or advice included in the bill cover implementing incentives and disincentives to enforce the regulations and placing an emphasis on everyone in the food waste system.
FareShare, a food redistribution organisation that supports the bill, claims that if 25 per cent of edible surplus food were distributed in the UK, the voluntary sector would save £250 million per year. The bill is also supported by other food waste campaign groups, such as FeedBack and This is Rubbish.
The measures included in the bill are similar to those originally included in Frances’s Energy Transition Bill. These regulations were eventually removed from the French bill due to procedural reasons, but a voluntary agreement was reached with supermarkets, which would see them redistribute food to charitable causes despite the lack of legislation requiring them to do so. A new set of regulations has since been retabled in the French National Assembly.
“Supermarkets need to step up”
Kerry McCarthy, who is a Patron of FoodCycle, a charity that uses surplus food to feed vulnerable people, took to Twitter today to voice her disappointment stating: ‘Unfortunately the first bill took a long time, and we also had two UQs so we won't get to debate #foodwastebill today.’
‘On a happier note, the Lords will be debating #foodwaste next week - so it is still on the political agenda. Will keep campaign going!’
She added that she would ask for it to be relisted for 4 March, though she expects that it will be ‘way down the Order Paper’.
‘Huge scale’ of food waste
Celebrity chef, and this year’s Resource Hot 100 winner, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has also given the bill his support, saying: “The supermarkets need to step up and massively reduce the waste they cause in the food supply chain – and that’s exactly what the Food Waste (Reduction) Bill calls on them to do.
“They need to adhere to the principle that food that is fit to be eaten by people, should be eaten by people. It’s ridiculous that so much good food is going into anaerobic digestion, rather than being redistributed to people in need. We must ask the supermarkets first to be transparent about how much they are wasting – from farm, to production, through to retail – and secondly to come up with coherent, credible plans for reducing that waste.
“I welcome this bill, and hope MPs get behind it, so we can put to an end the scandal of food being wasted on a huge scale.”
More information about the bill is available in Resource’s previous article.
