The background for the project is that EU Commission has introduced new regulations and policies for food waste prevention and monitoring. Sweden and Denmark link their reporting closely to the waste framework directive while Finland and Norway base their most data collection on voluntary reporting. Norway and Finland report on a detailed level and estimate impact like costs and GHG-emissions. All Nordic countries have necessary detail in data that are measured to fulfil the requirements set by the purpose of food waste monitoring program.

Halving food waste by 2030 calls for radical changes in the food chain. These radical changes require four dimensions: technology push, societal pull, market pull, and regulatory push. Based on these four dimensions, we have classified measures to reduce food waste into four topics: Policy instruments, changing social norms, nudging and changing practices, and intelligent technology and new products & business models.