Situation on food waste in Poland

National strategies on food waste prevention

Description of national strategies specifically addressing food waste:
National Waste Management Plan 2022.
Description: The transposition of the EU- directives into national law (e.g. Framework Directive, Landfill Directive, Packaging Directive), especially the European issues of waste management lay the framework for the National Waste Management Plan (KPGO 2014) as well as various regional plans. Poland’s waste management could be described as a system of regional solutions. Each region of Poland (voivodship) will be provided with a Regional Waste Management Plan, which is responsive to the assumptions of the KPGO 2014 and the strategic documents of a region (Swiss Business Hub, 2013).
The plan includes procedures to reduce waste, to prepare them for re-use, recycling, other recovery operations and for waste disposal. The National Waste Management Plan for 2022 is in line with the strategic documents adopted at EU and national level.
The programme applies to municipal waste, including food waste and other biodegradable waste and includes:

Analysis of the current status of waste management
Targets of waste management
Lines of the activities of waste prevention
Waste and the sharping of waste management system
How to monitoring and evaluation of national implementation waste management plan
Schedule and method of determination of contractors
Waste Management Plan – funding implementation
Information about strategic evaluation of environmental impacts
Assessment of funds used the scope of prevention waste
Summary of the national plan of waste management

The National Programme for the prevention of waste, 2014.
Description: The programme establishes the waste prevention objectives, defines the existing prevention and determine appropriate specific qualitative or quantitative reference levels for the measures adopted to prevent the formation of waste, in order to supervise and evaluation progress of these measures. Plan applies to biodegradable waste including food waste and contains:

Diagnosis of state
Utility examples of measures indicated in Annex IV
Existing methods of prevention Waste
Good Practice for prevention priority waste
Good Practice waste prevention
Objectives strategic
Actions to strategic goals
Monitoring the Implementation
Impact assessment of the proposed solutions
Consultation project
Diagnosis condition of specific groups waste
Plans, programmes, strategies for prevention waste.

Market-based instruments

Amendment of Art. 43 of October 2013 of Act of 11th March 2011 on value added tax (tax on commodity and services) J. of L. of 2011 No. 177, item 1054, with later amendments. Description: As an effect of this amendment the donation of food by producers and distributors is exempt from VAT (value added tax). Previously only donation made by producers was exempt from VAT. This new regulation should help to prevent food waste generation.

Regulations and regulatory instruments

Legislation with (potential) implications on food waste generation
Dz.U. [Journal of Laws] No. 171, item. 1225. The Law of 25 August 2006 on food safety and nutrition.
Description: This law lay the basic legal act regulating concerns of food safety and nutrition and form the framework which regulates in a comprehensive manner the conditions necessary to ensure food safety from “farm to fork”. This law refers to the European “Hygiene package” laying down rules for the hygiene of foodstuffs and the rules of conduct food sector regulatory authorities. This law is amended by Dz.U. [Journal of Laws] 2010 No. 21, item. 105. of 8 January 2010.
Legislation addressing food waste management

Dz.U. [Journal of Laws] from 2013 item 21 Law on Waste of 14 December 2012 r.
Description: The Act specifies measures to protect the environment, human life and health to prevent and reduce the negative impact on the environment and human health resulting from the generation and management of waste, and limiting the overall impact of resource use and improving the efficiency of such use.
Dz.U. [Journal of Laws] No. 75, item. 527, as amended Regulation of the Minister of Environment of 21 April 2006. on the list of types of waste, that the waste holder may transfer to individuals or agencies who are not entrepreneurs, and acceptable methods of their recovery.

Description: The Regulation sets out:

a list of the types of waste that a person or entity other than entrepreneurs can undergo recovery for their own needs, and acceptable methods of recovery;
conditions of storage of waste intended to be used for their own needs and limits the amount that these entities can take and store in a year, or the manner of determining those quantities for certain types of waste
the list of types of waste that individuals or entities other than entrepreneurs can undergo recovery for their own needs, and acceptable methods of recovery, conditions of storage of certain waste for use and permissible quantities that these operators can take and store in a year, or the manner of determining these amounts for certain types of waste set out in Annex to Regulation.
This document applies biodegradable kitchen waste.

Legislation actively addressing food waste reduction

In Poland, there is no legislation specifically addressing food waste reduction.

Legislation addressing food (re-)distribution

At the time of compiling this report, there is no legislation specifically addressing food (re-) distribution in Poland. However, the Polish parliament is currently drafting a law which aims to prevent local retailers from trashing unsold food which remains fit for consumption. Under this new law, the owners of retail outlets fitted with a total surface of more than 250 square meters will be required to donate such food to charity organizations, with intentional discards punishable by financial penalties. The senate is hoping to pass the law at the beginning of the year .

Local legal conditions for selected urban areas:

Resolution of the Capital City Warsaw dated 9 July 2015 on the adoption of the Rules of maintaining cleanliness and order in City Warsaw Resolution No. XIV / 292/2015 from 9-07 2015.

Warsaw

the types and amount of waste received from the owner of the property;
the frequency of collection of municipal waste from the property owner;
of the Services by the entities receiving the waste Municipal Waste Management in the field of municipal waste;
of the Services by the Points of selective collection of waste Municipal.
It applies to receive selectively collected bio-waste from kitchens, catering and bio-waste from markets and gastronomy.
It contains information about the methods and rules of collected bio-waste from kitchens, catering and bio-waste from markets and gastronomy.

Environmental sustainability programme for the City Warsaw for 2009-2012 with the prospect of 2016.
Description: The aim of the programme is to achieve balanced and sustainable development of the city of Warsaw through the preservation essential qualities of the natural environment, improve the environment, improve spatial order, development and environmental protection infrastructure. The priorities of the programme are to improve the quality of surface water, achieving the required standards of air quality, communication noise nuisance limitation, establishment of a coherent natural system of the city, along with the protection of valuable natural elements, creation of an integrated waste management system, increase the ecological consciousness of inhabitants of Warsaw.
This sustainability programme has implications on food waste management as it achieved a high degree of reduction of biodegradable waste (including food waste) that is landfilled without prior biological or thermal treatment.
Environmental sustainability programme for the City Warsaw for 2017-2020 with the prospect of 2023.
Description: The aim of the programme is: sustainable management of the environment, providing the domestic economy secure and competitive energy supply, improvement of the environment. The programme covers the following areas: air quality and climate protection, noise pollution, electromagnetic fields, water management (including the quality of surface water and groundwater and waste water management), land (including soil and geological resources), management of municipal and industrial waste (including food waste from households), natural resources, major accident hazards, environmental awareness of citizens, social participation, environmental education, adaptation to climate change.

Wroclaw
The programme providing residents compost (segreguj.wroc.pl programme)
The programme providing residents having home gardens and educational institutions located throughout the city, composters for composting green waste and kitchen waste biodegradable. The aim of the programme is to educate residents on proper waste composting, promoting composting waste for their own needs, increasing the amount of biodegradable waste to be recovered, thus reducing the amount going to landfill of municipal waste generated in Wroclaw.