Andorra la VellaThe Minister of Environment, Agriculture and Livestock, Guillem Casal, opened this Tuesday the round table on food waste that the Government has promoted as part of the European Waste Prevention Week. The table has brought together several actors involved in the food chain and waste management to discuss the different actions being taken to fight food waste.
In this space, the conclusions of the diagnostic study of food waste in the country have been presented for the first time. The minister has highlighted that “this is the first photograph that helps us to know the degree of waste we have in the country and we also establish for the first time a calculation methodology that has not existed in the country until now”. In this sense, he recalled that one of the objectives established by the Circular Economy Law (LEC) and the National Circular Economy Strategy (ENEC) is to reduce food waste by 50% by 2030. This objective is aligned with the Sustainable Development Goal (ODS) 12.3.
The study stipulates that Andorra currently generates 92 kg/equivalent inhabitant/year of food waste. Comparing this data with that of other countries, it is observed that the data obtained in the present study falls within the common values ​​calculated in nearby countries, such as the 131 kg/inhabitant/year on average in the EU, the 90 kg/inhabitant/year in Spain, and 129 kg/inhabitant/year in France.
The data refer to the year 2022 and the calculation of food waste has been obtained from data on waste characterization, the collection of the organic fraction, meat waste, used vegetable oils and expired food .
Going into detail, in relation to food waste, that is, food that could have been consumed and that has been thrown in the trash, it must be said that 18 kg/equivalent inhabitant/year are generated, this figure corresponds to 20% of the food waste calculated previously. This data has been obtained from the extrapolation of the data from the characterizations carried out.
“The new calculation methodology is a work tool that will improve the quality of the available data and allow for a more accurate calculation”, explained the minister, who pointed out that the Government will continue to deploy the law and the strategy to reach the set targets of 50% reduction.