On March 20, the campaign 'Together against food waste' was launched by the Taskforce Circular Economy in Food in THREE-SIXTY in Veghel. Milgro has been involved in the creation of the Taskforce from the start and, as a core member, has helped to ensure that the reduction of food waste is now widely tackled. The Task Force's ambition is to reduce food waste by half by 2030 compared to 2015. Over the next four years, the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality will invest a total of 7 million euros to support the Task Force's ambition.
One third of the world's food is currently wasted. The Netherlands wants to comply with UN Sustainable Development Goal 12.3 by achieving a reduction of 50% by 2030 and thus occupying a leading position in Europe. To achieve this, a coalition of companies, social organizations, knowledge institutions and the government has been formed; the Taskforce Circular Economy in Food (TCEiF). The Taskforce consists of 25 members, including Rabobank, Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, McDonald's Netherlands, Nutrition Center, Hutten Catering, Wageningen University & Research and Milgro. Together they will structurally reduce waste in the coming years with actions and initiatives. Although the topic of food waste has been on the political agenda for some time, it is the first time that there is such a large scale collaboration to realize the ambitions. All partners in the TCEiF share the intention to minimize food waste more quickly, in the chain and at the consumer, and are making a visible contribution to this.
Laurens Groen, CEO Milgro: “As a core member of the Taskforce, we have worked together over the past year on the strategic implementation of the program and on making the approach concrete. We are proud of what is already there. Milgro also has an important executive role in the Taskforce, for example by making food waste visible and measurable by means of monitoring. Companies can use the information from our data to steer towards reducing avoidable waste. We also assist companies in the (higher) valorisation of residual flows. Together with the members of the Task Force, we are setting up a movement that makes visible the strengths already present in the Netherlands to combat food waste. Milgro is happy to contribute its specialist knowledge and tools. Now it comes down to action and the business community can only win. After all, reducing waste yields benefits in every respect: economic, ecological and social! ”
To show what actions the members of the Taskforce are taking, the joint movement has been launched with the slogan 'Together against food waste'. More information can be found on the website of Together against food waste:www.samentegenvoedselverspilling.nl
