VTEI / food waste

food waste

Food waste from the perspective of municipalities – approaches and measures for reducing production and preventing its occurrence

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The presented article addresses current problems in food waste management and prevention at the municipal level in the Czech Republic. It summarises the authors’ team’s knowledge within the framework of long-term solutions to this issue, presents a diverse range of preventive measures, conducts an elementary economic analysis of municipal expenditures and revenues in waste management, and points out current problems and pitfalls for development in the coming years. The most important ones include the growing obligations of municipalities in preventing the creation and management of municipal waste and the associated increasing pressure on staffing the circular economy and waste management agenda, insufficient capacities for food waste management in the near future (with the planned fulfilment of national goals), an inadequate system of transmission and exchange of relevant information, and the ever-recurring indiscipline of citizens in primary waste sorting.

Methods of collection and management of biodegradable municipal waste in selected countries of the European Union and current results from moisture loss measurements

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The ever-increasing amount of waste, including biological waste, is causing serious problems in modern society, such as the filling of municipal waste landfills, which subsequently produce greenhouse gases. For society to deal with this problem, the legislation of some member states of the European Union (EU), including the Czech Republic (CR), has introduced new obligations to support the prevention of waste generation and its increased recycling and reuse. In 2020, the European Commission released the Circular Economy Action Plan, which provides guidelines for many countries on renewables and waste. However, in some cases the current measures are not enough. A new law on waste was adopted in the Czech Republic, which specifies the obligation to sort biological waste for legal entities and natural persons who allow physical persons to dispose of municipal waste in their establishments.
This article brings the current interim results of research project SS02030008 “Centre of Environmental Research: Waste Management, Circu-lar Economy and Environmental Security (CEVOOH)”. It deals with a brief description of biodegradable municipal waste (BMW) collection in some EU countries and draws general conclusions from the facts found. It also deals with the current results of measuring the moisture loss of biological waste in order to fulfil the obligation of the Czech Republic to report the quantity of this waste in its “fresh” state.

Food waste issues in relation to the mandatory reporting of its production for the needs of the Waste Framework Directive

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From this year, European Union member states are obliged to introduce preventive measures that will reduce the amount of food waste at all stages of the food chain. This article deals with this current topic, presents possible procedures for obtaining data on food waste production at various stages of the food chain, and shows the results of our own research and analysis about the usability of these data for reporting obligations and demonstrating future reductions.