The European Parliament gave the final green light to new measures to prevent and reduce food and textile waste across the EU on Tuesday.
The updated legislation to reduce food waste will introduce binding targets, which must be achieved at member state level by December 31, 2030: 10% from food processing and manufacturing and 30% per capita from retail, restaurants, catering services and households. These targets will be calculated in comparison with the average amount of waste between 2021 and 2023. Following a request from Parliament, EU countries will have to take measures to ensure that major economic operators in this sector (to be identified in each country) facilitate the donation of unsold food that is safe for human consumption.
Producers who place textile products in the EU will have to cover the costs of their collection, sorting and recycling, through new producer responsibility schemes (extended producer responsibility – EPR) to be established by each member state, within 30 months of the entry into force of the directive. These provisions will apply to all producers, including those using e-commerce platforms and regardless of whether they are established inside or outside the EU. Micro-enterprises will have an extra year to comply with the extended producer responsibility requirements.
The new rules cover products such as clothing and accessories, hats, footwear, blankets, bed linen and curtains. At the initiative of the Parliament, EU countries can also introduce EPR schemes for mattresses. Member States will also have to take measures on fast fashion practices when deciding on financial contributions to EPR schemes.
In accordance with the rules of the second reading procedure, in the absence of objections or amendments, the EP President announced in plenary that the proposed legislative act was adopted, following the adoption of the relevant position already agreed by the Council in the summer.
Next steps
The legislation will now have to be signed by both co-legislators (Parliament and Council), before it is published in the EU Official Journal. EU countries will have 20 months from its entry into force to transpose the rules into their national frameworks.
In July 2023, the Commission proposed a revision of EU waste rules, targeting food and textile waste.
Almost 60 million tonnes of food waste (132 kg per person) and 12.6 million tonnes of textile waste are generated in the EU every year. Clothing and footwear alone account for 5.2 million tonnes of waste, equivalent to 12 kg of waste per person per year. It is estimated that less than 1% of all textiles worldwide are recycled into new products.
