The Spanish Minister of Agriculture and Environment, Isabel García Tejerina, said that the Ministry will study the initiatives from other countries, such as France, which has approved an amendment to allow distribution centres to donate perishable foods to non-profit organisations or to allow waste unfit for human consumption to be used for animal feed.
She made this statement in the Senate during the control session on the Government, to the question of Senator Francisco Javier Yanguas Fernández on whether the Government was planning any legislative initiatives to prevent food waste in Spain.
As pointed out by Tejerina, citing data from the European Commission, "42% of all waste is disposed of in homes, 39% in the manufacturing stage, 14% in restaurants and 5% in distribution."
Therefore, she assured they are working to reduce this waste through a horizontal and multisectorial strategy, which will be enriched with new actions, following the example of similar initiatives in other countries, like France. "We will study and analyse them in detail," she stressed.
In any case, she clarified that Spain is actually ahead of France, since the Spanish Government "has already promoted partnerships between industry, distribution and food banks to reduce waste of products that, while meeting the right conditions for consumption, do not enter the commercial circuit."
The Minister also announced that they will soon present the results of a questionnaire sent to more than 500 households, intended to find out how much is wasted in a week. Furthermore, she recalled that the Ministry has also organised the "waste reduction week" to raise awareness about the issue.
