Comment by altairprime
21 hours ago
The EU has targeted foodservice with regulation as well, though it’s phased much more slowly (2030) than the clothing law was:
https://food.ec.europa.eu/food-safety/food-waste/eu-food-was...
Here, too, they consider “stop overproducing” to be the biggest problem on the pyramid. I’m not as familiar with this effort (nor if it, or any related initiative, affects to-go / disposal-ware) but one can reasonably imagine they are targeting all severely wasteful overproduction given enough time.
Sure - but my point is that the waste by businesses absolutely dwarves domestic waste. I used to work in a shop, and we “recycled” (LDPE so not recyclable) more plastic in a week than I have used in the 10 years since I worked there.
I’m not saying that individuals have no impact; our habits are absolutely important and we influence industry. But moving the needle on industry waste will have a more significant on the global situation than halving domestic waste in the UK.
The EU seems to agree: the 2030 target, set in 2025, requires a reduction of “10%, in processing and manufacturing” which will probably have an oversized impact on waste in actual kilos reduced, relative to the combined retail-domestic target.
Yeah - I agree. It’s also still sad to see that we are beholden to industries dragging their feet. A 10% reduction in 5 years isn’t enough, but they will claim difficulties and issues in the scale. Yet when Covid hit, or AI came on the scene, companies showed they had no problem conforming when forced.
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