The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has reported that an estimated 53,000t of food waste was generated at the primary production (farming, fishing and aquaculture) stage in Ireland.
Horticulture accounted for the largest contributor at the primary production stage, due to “quality standards or lack of customer demand”.
The EPA Food Loss and Waste (FLW) report stated that the reduction of waste at primary production level can lead to greater accessibility of “fresh and nutritious produce” for consumers.
The EPA estimates that Ireland generated 750,000t of food loss in 2022. This equates to 146kg per person, which is above the EU average of 130kg.
In the EPA report, there was “relatively no change” in the total amount of waste recorded in 2022, compared to the 2021 total of 753,000t.
According to the EPA, the waste of food costs the average Irish household about €60/month or €700/yr. That is an annual national cost of €1.29 billion.
The organic waste bin roll-out to households has increased the composting and anaerobic digestion rate of waste. In 2022, 69% of Irish households who had a bin collection service had a brown bin.
The food and beverage manufacturing and processing sector in Ireland generated an estimated 230,000t (31%) of waste in 2022.
Waste from this sector includes foods unsuitable for consumption or processing, process wastes and some animal tissues which are disposed as waste.
However, a proportion of animal tissue and other wastes is processed into by-products such as pet food, animal feed and fertiliser, and are not counted as waste in the EPA statistics.
The Reducing Commercial Food Waste in Ireland report published in 2019 found that over 66% of wasted food is avoidable.
Restaurants and food services generated approximately 157,000t of waste (21% of total) in 2022. The annual cost to this sector is estimated to be in excess of €300 million.
The retail and distribution sector accounted for 90,000t in 2022 with vegetables being the most wasted food (20%), followed by fruit (16%), bread (15%) and meat (11%).
How to reduce food waste
In 2022, a National Food Waste Prevention Roadmap was published by the government with details of actions to take to reduce Ireland’s waste by 2030.
The EPA reported that consistent measurement of waste is the first step in prevention, as it provides support on prevention initiatives.
The EPA’s food waste prevention programme which is implemented through the Agency’s Circular Economy Programme aims to raise awareness of this problem.
After prevention, redistribution of food is the next preferred option and is an “important” way to avoid it becoming waste. In 2021, Food Cloud redistributed a total of 3,162t of food which supported 650 community groups.
Any waste that is “unavoidable”, such as, peels and bones should be separately collected, so that it can be treated by composting or anaerobic digestion, according to the report.
Ireland’s implementation of the special regulations since 2010 has contributed to an “upward trend” in the quantity of waste being separately collected and treated by composting/anaerobic digestion.
The EPA reported that there is “still room for improvement” and from the end of this year, the separate collection of bio-waste will be mandatory.