EU Environment Commissioner Karmenu Vella today said that 20% of all food produced in the EU is wasted leading to a “slow motion disaster”.
Speaking at an international conference organised by Wasteserv and the Association of Cities & Regions for Recycling and for sustainable Resource management (ACR+), Mr Vella said the 20% amounts to around 88 million tonnes of bio waste, at a cost of €143 billion annually, which Dr Vella described as ‘astonishing’.
The commissioner explained the implication of these numbers saying that food waste leads to a waste of land and water, as well as the generation of greenhouse gases. Europe is the third largest contributor to bio waste after the US and China.
Dr Vella said that it is easy for the EU to fall into complacency on the issue considering the progress that has been made in terms of food safety, environmentally friendly farming and animal welfare among other environmental issues. That being said, there is a lot of work to be done in promoting organic farming, crop diversification and permanent grasslands.
With a UN report stating that the global population is expected to rise to 9 billion by 2050, the need to vastly reduce waste is imperative. Dr Vella also cited the EU Waste Management Goals which aim to half the amount of waste being produced annually until 2030. Some member states already have their own programmes, including Malta and Portugal.
The Minister for Sustainable Development and the Environment, Jose Herrera, said the Waste Management Plan which his Ministry published in January 2014 sets out milestones to be reached by 2020. The plan includes a large amount of awareness-raising campaigns entitled “Don’t Waste Waste”, with the tagline of “Do your bit.”
Dr Herrera said the public needs to do their part to ensure an effective waste management system. The pilot project for a new bio waste treatment methods is being done in nine localities and, so far, 1,000 tonnes of organic waste has been collected.
The organic waste pilot project was divided in two phases, Phase 1 commenced October 2015 including Mdina, Birkirkara, Ta’ Xbiex, Bormla and Hal Ghaxaq lasting 3 months while Phase 2 started January 2016 adding Hal Kirkop, Imgarr, Marsaxlok and Swieqi also lasting 3 months.
Wasteserv Chairman, Tonio Montebello spoke about how the idea of sustainable food management is becoming increasingly prevalent in the public eye and in the media. He spoke about the new Malta North Bio Waste Treatment Plant which cost €50 million is now ensuring that, together with the existing Sant Antning facility in Marsascala, all household waste will now be treated instead of going directly to a landfill.
ACR+ President, Joseph Maria Tost was also present to give a brief address praising Malta for working on this issue for roughly a decade now already. He said that the current Industrial method creates a large amount of waste with almost a third of global food production being wasted. “Communication, organisation and political will” are the ways to reach the final goals.