Press release
Minister McConalogue welcomes Stop Food Waste Day 2022
From Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Published on
Last updated on
From Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Published on
Last updated on
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, reminded consumers today, Stop Food Waste Day, to think critically about the amount of food we waste.
Minister McConalogue said:
“When we think of food waste, we think of the amount of food we put in our waste bins. But we don’t always think of why we are putting it in there. Today let’s take time to think about that question and to understand what food we waste, how much we waste and why we waste it. We can each work towards reducing the amount of food we waste, which will in turn help us reduce our carbon footprint.”
Ireland’s recently published Climate Action Plan aims to reduce food waste by 50% by 2030. This aligns with one target of UN Sustainable Development Goal 12 to ‘cut in half per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer level and reducing food losses along production and supply chains (including post-harvest losses) by 2030’ and with commitments of Food Vision 2030 on reducing food waste.
The focus of this year's Stop Food Waste Day ‘Make Use-By Dates Work for You’ is to make people aware that:
Globally, food wastage's carbon footprint is estimated at 3.3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent of Green House Gas emissions released into the atmosphere per year. Ireland generates over 1 million tonnes of food waste each year and a third of that happens in our homes.
Minister McConalogue also stated:
“By reducing our food waste, we also show our farmers, fishers and other food producers that we value their work and the safe and nutritious food they work all year round to provide.”
Stop Food Waste is a programme funded under the Environmental Protection Agency National Waste Prevention Programme since 2009. The website provides details on eating or freezing food up to its ‘use-by’ date which can save money and avoid food waste; planning your shop; and the environmental impact of food waste.
UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12 Responsible Consumption and Production - is one of 17 SDGs. The goal of SDG12 is to ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns and to reduce global food waste by 50% by 2030
Food Vision 2030 (Mission 1 Goal 6) states that in line with the commitment in the Waste Action Plan, the Department of Agriculture, Food, and the Marine will work with stakeholders to develop a National Food Waste Prevention Roadmap that sets out a series of actions to deliver the reductions necessary to halve our per capita food waste by 2030, meet any other related targets, and promote our transition to a circular economy.