What do we see?
In 2015, there was an estimated 3,485kt of food waste in Flanders: food loss accounted for 907kt (26%) and food residues for 2,578kt (74%). The agricultural sector is responsible for the majority of the food loss, while most of the food residues come from food processing. However, we need to put the figures in context and take into account that, in some sectors, food waste is often unavoidable.
What’s the aim?
In a circular economy, our primary aim is to prevent waste by maximising the use of products. Where food waste is unavoidable, we then look at ways to get value out of that waste.
In Flanders, a lot of effort is already being put into reducing and getting maximum value out of food waste. The goal is, by 2025, to reduce the amount of food loss throughout the production chain by 30% compared to 2015. OVAM has started up a system to monitor this.
What does this indicator measure?
This indicator shows the amount of food waste per sector of the Flemish food chain. Food waste can be divided into food loss and food residues. Food loss is food that could have been consumed by humans but was thrown away. Food residues are often unavoidable but we should try and get as much value out of this as possible.
