Image: APA/dpa/Fabian Sommer
This is the result of the amendment to the Waste Management Act (AWG) passed in the National Council on Wednesday. The reporting obligation for dealers applies from the fourth quarter for sales areas of 400 square meters or more or five sales outlets. According to Minister Leonore Gewessler (Greens), it should be “a clear incentive to donate” and thus minimize food waste.
A clear statement against waste
Once a quarter, large grocers and supermarket chains are then obliged to report to the Ministry of the Environment how much food they have thrown away and how much has been donated. “It cannot be that in times of rising prices, when many people no longer know how to make ends meet, thousands of tons of food are simply thrown away,” Gewessler argued in a statement. The new regulation in the Waste Management Act creates transparency and is a clear statement against food waste, because companies are encouraged to donate their food that is still edible and to avoid waste.”
Thanks to the “Food is precious” initiative, a voluntary agreement between supermarkets and the ministry, food is already being passed on to social organizations such as the Tafel, saving around 20,000 tons of food from being turned into waste. Nevertheless, there are estimates of 70,834 tons of avoidable food waste in retail.
900 companies affected
The initiative application for the AWG amendment affects an estimated 900 companies in Austria. The quarterly reports must be submitted for the first time for the fourth calendar quarter of 2023 by February 10, 2024. Both the mass of food that is passed on free of charge for human consumption and that which is disposed of as waste should be reported and then presented to the public in a quarterly report. Micro-enterprises and food producers who sell food through direct sales, such as farmers, are not covered by the regulation.
Source: Nachrichten
