Council and Parliament reach provisional food waste agreement to advance EU circularity

The Council presidency and European Parliament (EP) representatives reached a provisional agreement on the targeted revision of the waste framework directive, setting EU targets for food waste reduction by 2030 and measures aiming for a low-waste textile sector. 

Packaging companies have been developing shelf life extending solutions to cut food waste as a result of incoming legislation and consumer demands for environmentally sustainable solutions. 

The agreement is yet to be confirmed by the Council and the EP before going through the formal adoption procedure. 

“The EU is for the first time setting ambitious food waste reduction targets for more sustainable food systems,” says Paulina Hennig-Kloska, Polish Minister for Climate and Environment.

Poland currently holds the Council presidency and will do so until June 30.

The two co-legislators agreed on ambitious yet realistic targets for food waste by 2030:

• Reduction by 10% in processing and manufacturing waste compared to the average amount of food waste generated in these sectors in 2021–2023.
• Reduction by 30% per capita in waste from retail, restaurants, food services, and households compared to the average amount of food waste generated in these sectors in 2021-2023.

Those targets are the “first-ever” to be established at the EU level, according to the Council. 

The packaging industry works toward developing shelf life extending solutions, saving waste.Rapporteur Anna Zalewska says: “During the final negotiations round, the EP succeeded to secure provisions making sure that food waste and textiles waste as part of the municipal waste will be further reduced. We succeeded in ensuring feasible and realistic provisions for member states to implement food waste reduction policies and we managed to ensure that the agriculture sector will not be negatively impacted.”

This month, StePacPPC and Windham Packaging developed modified atmosphere/modified humidity packaging solutions to extend the shelf life of fresh produce destined for restaurants, hotels, and institutional foodservice outlets.

The films are said to reduce waste for vegetables and fruits such as sliced mushrooms, green beans, brussels sprouts, and broccoli.

EPR schemes 

According to the deal, EU countries would have to establish EPR schemes, through which regional textile producers would have to cover the costs for their collection, sorting, and recycling, 30 months after the directive entered into force.

These provisions would apply to all producers, including those using e-commerce tools and irrespective of whether they are established in an EU country or outside the EU. Micro-enterprises would need to comply with the EPR requirements 12 months later.

The new rules would cover products such as clothing and accessories, footwear, blankets, bed and kitchen linen, curtains, and hats. At EP’s initiative, EU countries may also set up EPR schemes for the producers of mattresses.

Negotiators also agreed that member states should address ultra-fast fashion and fast fashion practices when setting out the financial contributions to the EPR schemes.

“We also set up the legal framework to ensure that producers contribute to the effective separate collection of textiles they produce. We managed to lower the administrative burden both for member states and economic operators,” says Zalewska.

EPR regulation has also impacted the packaging industry. In the UK, the incoming EPR dominated discussions at Packaging Innovations 2025. The scheme administrator for packaging EPR, Pack UK, announced itself at the event, describing the regulation as a “game-changer” for the country’s packaging circular economy. However, the British Plastics Federation warned of the likely damaging impacts on plastic packaging businesses.

Establishing new law 

The provisional agreement was reached by the Council’s Presidency and the representatives of the EP based on mandates from their respective institutions. 

The provisional agreement will now have to be endorsed by the Council and the EP before undergoing legal linguistic revision. Once formally adopted, EU member states will have up to 20 months to update their national laws to follow the new rules.

According to the Council, the EC will be tasked with reviewing and assessing several aspects of the waste framework directive.

Those details include the financing of the extended producer responsibility schemes and possible targets concerning textile waste (by 2029). It also includes the role of primary production in food waste, the impact of changes in production levels, and possible updated targets on food waste reduction for 2030 and 2035 (by 2027).