2014: The European year against food waste

The European Commission is considering making 2014 the "year against food waste".  The parliament adopted a resolution aiming to halve food waste in the EU by 2025.  They hope to achieve this by changes in labelling of food, and through providing support to local, sustainable food production systems.

An AD plant obviously depends on a source of food waste to operate, so where does this leave us?  PES believe that setting up small, community scale AD plants is the solution to food waste issues, and as environmentalists we welcome any steps that are taken to reduce unnecessary waste.  However, there will always be a supply of unwanted organic matter that can't be prevented - think what food materials are thrown away in the average household.  Cooking too much food and throwing it away; or buying too much and it going off before it can be used is a waste; but with the best will in the world there will always be things such as tea-bags, banana skins and potato peelings that are unwanted.

PES are confident that building our small plants at a town scale is the best way to manage the unpreventable food waste; with the advantages in reducing transport of the wastes across the region as well as producing renewable energy and fertiliser from doing so.