Make your pledge and
make a change.
Signing the Food Waste Charter is a commitment that can be taken by companies and organisations in Ireland.
It is a public pledge to measure, reduce and report on your food waste.
The Food Waste Charter means you:
Pledge your commitment to working together to reduce food waste
Measure quantity of food waste and associated cost within the business’s current operations
Identify appropriate interventions and implement one food waste reduction initiative over next 12 months
Report Individually on progress and achievements
Resources are available to help you act.
These resources are aimed at four key sectors:
Primary food production, including farming and fishing, is a major part of Ireland’s economy. This sector is heavily reliant on our environment so the impacts of food waste and loss are very much local.
The food manufacturing and processing sectors generate a significant amount of Ireland’s food waste. Much of this waste is inedible (e.g. skins, seeds, bones) and used for animal feed or energy production, so is often overlooked when considering food waste prevention.
Distribution and retail are the sectors within the food system that connect food production and processing with final use. Due to this position in food system, distribution and retail are influenced by and can influence the entire system, both up- and downstream.
The number of meals typically consumed by Irish people outside of the home is increasing. As a result, food service (including hotels, workplace canteens, bars, restaurants, etc.) is becoming an ever more important sector in relation to food waste prevention in Ireland.
Resources
EPA Food Waste Measurement Protocol for Manufacturing Sector
The EPA Food Waste Measurement Protocol for the Food and Drink Manufacturing sector provides a consistent method to measure food waste. It provides a step-by-step guide to help collate relevant data and inform food waste reduction decisions
download
EPA Food Waste Measurement Protocol Workbook
Download the EPA Food Waste Measurement Protocol Excel workbook for food and drink manufacturing businesses. The workbook will help to gather and collate relevant data and estimate all food waste related flows. (xlsx file)
download
EPA Food Service Pathway to Less Food Waste - Measurement Matters
The EPA guide to measuring food waste in the hospitality sector. Measuring food waste doesn't have to be difficult, just use the information you already have to easily track your food waste. Learn how using your data can give you information on food waste volumes produced, the cost for your business, and how well your waste management system is working.
download
EPA Food Service Pathway Food Waste Measurement Template
Download our easy to use food waste tracker. This Excel template uses data you already have to calculate how much food waste your hospitality business is producing, what it may be costing and how well your waste management system is working (xlsx file).
download
Food Waste Fact Sheet
Food waste is a significant cost for any food service industry. Learn about some of the immediate actions you can take to reduce this cost for your business
download
Water Conservation Fact Sheet
Information and actions for you to conserve water and reduce costs
download
Waste Reduction Fact Sheet
Tips on how to manage and reduce your waste costs
download
Energy Factsheet
Actions and tips for improving the energy efficiency and reducing costs in your business
downloadContact us email info@foodwastecharter.ie
FAQs +
Ireland’s Food Waste Charter is a national initiative led by the EPA supporting Irish businesses to reduce food waste. The Charter aims to promote a collective industry commitment to reduce food waste along the entire supply chain.
By signing up, you commit to take at least one action in your business that will help reduce food waste. This action, regardless of how big or small, should be concrete and achievable.
By doing this, you will join other businesses and industry leaders from across the country in working together to reduce food waste.
The EPA is supporting this initiative by developing free food waste prevention resources for businesses, helping to identify opportunities and providing support for the implementation of actions to address food waste.
Nobody likes to see food going to waste and people all over the world are coming together to create solutions to this problem.
Ireland, along with almost 200 other countries, has committed to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, including: “By 2030, halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses.”
Recently published research revealed that the food services sector generates over 250,000 tonnes of food waste each year, with as much as 75% of this being food that could have been eaten. The purchasing costs alone of this wasted food is estimated at over €300 million for the Irish food service sector. Additionally, food waste in business results in considerable cost in terms of resource-use and business overheads.
Addressing this global issue is something that requires collective action. By signing up to the Charter you are joining with others to become part of the solution to wasted food – from farm and fishing boat; through processing, distribution and retail; to final consumption.
In turn, the EPA is supporting businesses to reduce their food waste by developing free food waste prevention resources for businesses, helping to identify opportunities and providing support for the implementation of actions to address food waste.
By signing up, your business commits to take at least one action that will help reduce food waste. This action, regardless of how big or small, should be concrete and achievable.
Signing the Food Waste Charter involves four main actions:
- Pledge – this is your businesses making a commitment to work together to reduce food waste
- Measure – quantify food waste generated within the business’ current operations
- Reduce – identify potential actions to reduce food waste and implement at least one over the coming 12 months
- Report – promote good news stories and achievements
Regardless of what kind of business or organisation you are involved with, there is always something that you can do to reduce food waste. After pledging to do something about food waste in your business, measuring where food is being wasted will help you to identify actions to reduce it.
Most food businesses have a brown bin service (and if you don’t then you should!) and the information from these bills can be used to measure food waste and benchmark against industry standards. However, these bills typically provide only very rough estimates as food still ends up going down the sink and/or in the wrong bins.
Detailed tracking of food waste is an important first step to really understanding how much is being wasted, what type of food is being wasted and from where that waste is coming.
To help you get started, you can download some resources to help you record and track your food waste here.
Every business and organisation is different so what works for one may not work for another. There are many excellent examples of how different Irish businesses have addressed their food waste and these may provide some inspiration for your business.
We have gathered some examples of food waste prevention in businesses and these can be found here
The first signatories were 5 major Irish retailers, representing 70% of Irish grocery retail market and these companies are now are working towards measuring, reporting and reducing their food waste. Since then other organisations from family run restaurants to international corporates have also joined. That’s the whole thing – any business can get involved regardless of whether you are food producer or just have a workplace canteen.
Get tips and advice by visiting the EPA’s Stop Food Waste website.