Action plan on circular food loss and residual biomass flows 2021-2025.

The Action plan on circular food loss and biomass (residual) flows is a regional multi sectoral plan of Flanders for the period 2021-2025. Its main objective is to use materials from the biological cycle as optimally as possible and to reduce loss and resources underuse to a minimum. The Plan is the driver to continue to innovate and do business in a circular way in order to improve the Flemish and European targets for 2025 and 2030.
The Plan aims at encouraging the prevention, the separate collection and recycling of food and biomass residues in order to reduce costs and resource use. This plan offers a framework for the government and stakeholders to close the loop of food loss and residual biomass flows and to reach the Flemish and European targets in the period 2021-2025.
Acknowledging that Flanders still faces challenges in the sustainable management of food loss and biomass (pressure on increasingly scarce raw materials; sudden oversupply of products; negative effects on the living environment), this Plan aims to offer solutions. Food loss and residual biomass flows arise in all phases of the food and biomass chain: its management is the responsibility of various policy areas and numerous sectors and stakeholders are involved: companies, organizations, sector federations, research institute. Biomass and food are identified as one of the five important themes for the transition to Circular economy and so the Plan focus on expanding the Flemish economy into a competitive bio-economy that produces biomass sustainably and reuses biomass (residual) streams for food, animal feed, materials, products and energy. Also, through technological innovations new bio-based, sustainable materials can be discovered and waste generation can be reduced and the use of biomass and the recycling of food residues can reduce negative effects on the environment by reducing emissions into air and water and organic carbon in the soil. The Flemish Government has set itself the goal of developing an integrated Flemish food policy by focusing on avoiding food loss throughout the chain and evolving towards a (more) circular food system. Within the circular economy, measures related to the prevention of food loss and the sustainable management of residual biomass flows can help achieve the necessary emission reduction and carbon storage. The link between this action plan and the Flemish energy and climate plan is made visible by, among other things, the following actions: 1. Reduction of food loss throughout the food chain; 2. Improvement of selective collection and quality processing of organic-biological waste from industrial and household waste; 3. Sustainable mobilization of biomass for carbon storage and renewable energy production; 4. Increasing the recycling of wood waste; 5. Setting a framework for using wood chips as a soil improver; 6. Encouragement of farm composting; 7. Increasing the supply of organic soil improvers and fertilizers for conservation and increasing the share of organic carbon in Flemish agricultural land; 8. Active management of landscape elements; 9. Better cascading of forest biomass and comparable biomass from small landscape elements.
This Plan is built around three material cycles. For each cycle there are objectives, a strategy and action programs formulated with concrete actions to achieve the recycling objectives and climate ambitions set for 2030: 1. Cycle 1: residual food flows from producer to consumer (food loss and waste flows from producers (primary sector), producer organizations, food industry, distribution, catering, hospitality, businesses and consumers; 2. Cycle 2: residual biomass flows that arise in green, nature, forest and landscape management; 3. Cycle 3: residual wood flows from industry and households.
The Plan was prepared by the food loss prevention component of OVAM, the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries and the Department of Environment. All stakeholders involved in the origin and management of food loss and residual biomass flows, including the policy domains involved actively participate in the preparation of this action plan. In addition to representatives of the three cycles – residual food flows, residual biomass flows, residual wood flows - were also involved as overarching advisory bodies. The various evaluation processes show that there is a need for concrete focus points and structural cross-border cooperation projects to make a difference. The current Plan is the result of this participatory process.
With this Plan, Flanders is responding to the European Framework Directive requirement that all member states have a food waste prevention program (food waste) by 2020. As circular economy is constantly evolving, this action plan is conceived as a dynamic plan, which is adjusted on the basis of advancing insight. Due to the growing public attention on the economic and environmental benefits arising out of the European Waste Framework Directive, this Plan has upgraded the voluntary public-private partnership to an action plan approved by the Flemish Government with strong stakeholder involvement, a concrete goal for donation, obligation of selective collection, and increased focus on respecting the cascade and the processing hierarchy.