Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 15 January 2026
219. Deputy Keira Keogh asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment the measures his Department is taking to prevent food wastage by supermarkets, in view of the fact that this wastage could be repurposed and donated to those in need; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2942/26]
View answerMy Department published Ireland’s National Food Waste Prevention Roadmap 2023-2025 in November 2022. The Roadmap set out a number of priority actions to bring the focus on food waste prevention, across key sectors in the food supply chain, together in a coherent manner. The Roadmap focused on areas such as food waste measurement and reporting, food waste segregation, surplus food donation and redistribution, research and innovation, green public procurement, and delivering sustained communications and awareness-raising to help change behaviours.
Key actions that have been delivered to date include, for example; the launch of a revised Food Waste Charter, which a number of major retailers have signed up to; national food waste statistics reporting; food waste awareness activities such as National Stop Food Waste Day and a National Food Waste Recycling Week; and a new Green Public Procurement policy that includes a focus on food waste prevention. A project, Food Circle, was also established with FoodCloud in 2024 to support the implementation of key actions related to surplus food redistribution and donation.
The revised Waste Framework Directive, which entered into force on 16 October 2025, includes binding food waste reduction targets to be achieved at national level by 2030. This includes the reduction of the generation of food waste per capita, jointly in retail and other distribution of food, in restaurants and food services and in households, by 30%. The revised Directive also lists specific prevention measures including a strengthened focus on surplus food donation.
The Department is currently preparing the next iteration of the National Food Waste Prevention Roadmap which will ensure Ireland is on the right path to deliver on its food waste reduction obligations. The revised Waste Framework Directive, and the output from the Food Circle project, will be particularly important in shaping targeted actions on food donation and redistribution in the next Roadmap, which will be published later this year.
