Federal government and food industry take action against food waste

With a joint action plan, Federal Councillor Simonetta Sommaruga and 28 executives from companies and associations in the food industry want to reduce foodwaste.

The cross-industry agreement to reduce food waste was presented to the Swiss Federal Parliament for the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC), various companies from the retail trade as well as the processing industry and agriculture. According to a statement, the signatories pledge to reduce their food waste by half by 2030 (compared to 2017).

Progress message

More than a third of the food produced in Switzerland is lost or wasted. In Switzerland, this corresponds to an average of 330 kilograms of waste per capita and year, according to the Federal Council. In addition, food waste accounts for a quarter of the environmental impact caused by food.

However, the measures are to be voluntary. These include, for example, improved indication of the shelf life for certain products, increased donation of unsold food to charitable organizations, and, for example, the development of packaging that allows for a longer shelf life to enable increased donations to charitable organizations.

In the agreement, the signatories are to undertake to collect data annually on the food lost, the progress made and forward it to the Federal Council for the Environment (FOEN). Thanks to the evaluation, the companies should be able to better calculate their food losses and identify ecological and financial savings opportunities.

Source: Confederation