What do we see?
The graph below shows the cascading index for different links in the food value chain. The primary sector scores high because many residual streams there are utilised as animal feed. Fruit and vegetable auctions and the food industry also provide high-quality value retention, most of it through processing into animal feed. In retail and catering, we see an increase, due to increased selective collection in some subsectors. Further down the chain, it appears that the hospitality and catering sector and households score relatively low compared to other sectors. In households, food waste streams still mainly end up in the residual waste. Compared to 2015, a slight improvement can be seen in most links. The overall figure across all links has evolved from 8.2 in 2015 to 8.0 in 2020.
What’s the aim?
Besides preventively reducing food losses, the circular economy seeks to valorise both edible food residue streams (food losses) and non-edible food residue streams (by-streams). Examples include converting these residual streams into animal feed or using them as biofuels. Putting these streams to good use avoids the use of other raw materials. The aim is to get food residue streams as high up the value retention cascade as possible wherever possible. Not all options are possible everywhere: since, for example, it is forbidden by law to use food waste streams from hospitality and catering as animal feed, the biggest potential gains here will come mainly from improved selective collection. The Food Loss Action Plan aims for a higher cascade index in 2025 compared to 2015.
What does this indicator measure?
To express the valorisation of food waste streams on a scale, the cascade index is used with a scale of 0 to 10. This index evaluates food waste streams at different players in the food sector based on their position in the cascade of value retention. It does not include the prevention of food waste streams due to a lack of available data. Therefore, the index focuses only on the valorisation of food residue streams such as converting them into animal feed or using them for biofuels.
