In the 2nd meeting of the German Business Engagement Steering Committee meeting, the participating organizations finalized the Framework for Action (FA) to combat food waste across the whole value chain. With this document we have an excellent basis to define projects to reduce food waste at the relevant food value chain stages.

The meeting took place in May in Wuppertal. This part of the project brings together businesses, NGOs, political actors and scientists. Participating partners were METRO, Nestlé Germany, Penny, Sodexo, the relevant ministries on the national (BMEL) and the regional level (MKULNV NRW and STMELF Bayern), German Council for Sustainable Development (Nachhaltigkeitsrat), Consumer Association of North-Rhine Westphalia (Verbraucherzentrale NRW e.V.) and Prof. Guido Ritter (FH Münster). Furthermore, the process is supported by Foodsharing e.V., WWF Germany and the University Witten/Herdecke.

In the meeting, participants discussed the Framework for Action (FA), which is an agreement aiming at decreasing food waste in the next years. Guest speakers in the meeting were Toine Timmermans, the coordinator of the overall project from the University of Wageningen, and Volker Mehl, an Ayurveda cook from Wuppertal, who gave insights about his experiences as a cook concerning food waste.

Based on the finalized version of the FA we will soon start to define pilot projects to achieve the SDG goal 12.3 to reduce food waste by 50% until 2030. The FA can be downloaded here

The FA is open for all organizations who would like to contribute to this goal. 

If you would like to take an active role in the project, please contact Patrik Eisenhauer (Patrik.eisenhauer@scp-centre.org). The next meeting will most likely be at the beginning of October in Wuppertal.