The Waste Management (Food Waste) Regulations 2009
Type of practice Recycle
Name of practice The Waste Management (Food Waste) Regulations 2009
Name of main actor Irish Government
Type of actor(s) Food services
Location Ireland
Stage of implementation Consumption
Year of implementation 2009
What was/is being done? Ireland’s Food Waste Regulations illustrate
an exceptional case of how regulators can
really take a leading role in driving a
change in the business-as-usual practices
of the food industry. The regulations promote
the source segregation of food
waste in order to facilitate the achievement
of the EU Landfill Directive targets
by directing food waste to composting
and biogas plants rather than to incinerating
plants. For example, Regulation 9
obliges food-related businesses that generate
huge quantities of food waste, such
as canteens, hotels, hospitals and supermarkets,
making it compulsory for them
to segregate food waste and make it available
for separate collection and transfer to
an authorized treatment process, provided
that source-segregated collection is available.
Outcomes and impacts It is important to highlight that the
regulations exclude incineration from the
definition of “authorized treatment
process”, thus overcoming the
lacuna of the EU Landfill Directive.
Similar provisions can also be found under
the Scottish and Welsh legislation.
