Framework Requirements for Harmonising Food Waste Monitoring

The aim of this paper is to highlight an approach how to connect waste prevention and waste management strategies framed in a resource efficiency perspective and to discuss the front- and back-end challenges with developing an overall methodological framework for quantifying food waste. The front-end approach based on time-consuming and costly case studies, comprises information (e.g. amounts, composition) from companies (e.g.according NACE classification) or households. They are highly detailed and crucial in order tounderstand the causes for food waste generation and to develop consecutive prevention strategies. However, these data are mostly mapped on the basis of non-representative individual/regional case studies and cannot be extrapolated to sectors, national or European Levels.